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Powerful cold-season winds caused walls to collapse upon fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing no fewer than 4 individuals. This tragedy underscores the perilous situation that persist after over two years of devastating airstrikes and critical lack of aid.

Truce Provides No Respite from Harsh Elements

Although a truce has been active from October, humanitarian organizations report that Palestinians do not have the adequate shelter necessary to withstand recurring cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, said on Tuesday that the dead were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the local health authority announced on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of hypothermia during the night.

"The world has enabled us to witness death in all its forms," stated a family member after the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Tent Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, 3 people of a one family — 72-year-old a man, his teenage granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall fell onto their dwelling in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least 5 additional people were injured in the event.

Their relatives on Tuesday began clearing the debris that had entombed their loved ones and rebuilding the temporary homes for survivors.

Humanitarian Efforts and Ongoing Crisis

The UN and its aid organization allies were distributing shelter kits, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as food and hygiene items throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of the population reside in makeshift tents since their houses were reduced to rubble during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Casualty Figures After the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, part of the Hamas-run government, reports more than 440 individuals have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies taken to hospitals since the truce began. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and outside analysts.

James Elder, representing the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than one hundred minors below eighteen years old – sixty males and 40 females – had been lost their lives since the ceasefire started due to armed actions, including drone strikes, air raids, tank shelling and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he explained, represented incidents where enough details had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the overall count is believed to be higher. He added that hundreds of children had been injured.

"While 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' under the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson told reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "So what the world now calls quiet would be viewed as a crisis anywhere else," he said.

Another Winter of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of more than 2 million people has been fighting to fend off the cold weather and storms at bay while enduring shortages of humanitarian aid and a absence of more substantial temporary housing, which is urgently required during the winter months. It’s the 3rd winter since the war between the state and Hamas started on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked southern Israel and killed approximately twelve hundred individuals and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,400 people have been fatally injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.