People stand at the site of a deadly sand embankment collapse at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on November 9, 2026. (AFP Photo)
Gaza families struggle to find shelter from rain and cold as tarpaulins fail and damaged buildings risk collapsing, with the United States reportedly pushing Israel to advance in plans on the war-torn Palestinian strip.
Since early on Nov. 7, hundreds of displaced families have been seen fleeing camps in parts of Gaza City and in the central and northern areas of the territory after they were inundated by rainwater.
Gaza Health Ministry Director-General Munir al-Bursh appealed on Nov. 8 for urgent shelter supplies, saying flooding left 350,000 displaced Palestinians sleeping in the open.
“Is the world waiting for our children to freeze?” he said, urging immediate action to protect children at displacement sites.
Al-Bursh called for the opening of crossings to allow in tents and reconstruction materials. He said thousands of tents were waiting at the crossings, but the Israeli army was refusing to let them into Gaza.
Earlier on Nov. 8, a woman and four children were killed and others injured when a landslide struck tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Rescuers were still searching for missing people.
Heavy rain and strong winds have battered Gaza since Nov. 6 evening. The Government Media Office said 70,000 tents flooded and dozens of walls previously damaged by Israeli bombardment collapsed within the storm’s first 12 hours.
Entire displacement camps flooded, with water reaching 1.5 meters in some areas.
U.S. President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him to begin reconstruction efforts in Gaza following images of flooding caused by heavy rains, Israeli media reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s senior envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff also took part in the phone call, according to the report.
The implementation of the plan, which envisages Hamas disarming and the transfer of administrative control in Gaza to a Palestinian technocratic government, has effectively been put on hold during Israel’s election campaign.
