Heavy rain floods Gaza displacement camps, prompting evacuations
Heavy rain in Gaza has flooded thousands of tents, forcing displaced families to evacuate as civil defence receives about 1,500 distress calls within ten hours.
Heavy rain swept across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, flooding thousands of tents used by displaced families and prompting evacuations from several shelter sites. Gaza's civil defence agency reported receiving roughly 1,500 distress calls in the first ten hours after the storm began, with water levels rising 30-40 cm (12-16 in) in some camps.
"What we feared has actually happened," civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Al Jazeera. "A few shelter centres were completely flooded, and everyone inside them has now been forced out into the unknown."
Basal warned that premature babies, the elderly and the sick are especially vulnerable. He added that residents living in tents face immediate risks of death and illness.
Rescue teams also evacuated occupants of a partially collapsed building in the central Nuseirat area and reported injuries after a wall collapsed in northern Gaza, according to the Wafa news agency.
Footage from camps in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah showed families wading through ankle-deep water, with mattresses and blankets soaked and children standing in mud and sewage.
In al-Mawasi, where more than 900,000 displaced people are sheltering, rain began around 10 p.m. (20:00 GMT) on Friday. Reporters noted that hundreds, possibly thousands, of tents were flooded across the strip, and that over 125,000 families along the coast are at risk of their tents being swept away by the sea.
Gaza’s emergency committee said more than one million displaced people face winter hazards and that the territory urgently needs about 200,000 tents and heating supplies. Raed al-Dahshan, director of civil defence in Gaza governorate, said the agency lacks tarpaulins or tents, limiting its ability to assist beyond life-saving measures.
Aid groups attribute the shortage of shelter materials to restrictions on entry. Mohammed Salha, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, said daily truck arrivals total 180-200, far below the 600 agreed under the humanitarian protocol, with only about 40 carrying aid. He noted that 50,000 tents are waiting on the Egyptian side of the border and called for pre-emptive delivery before further flooding occurs.