Gaza City [Gaza], January 14: At least five Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a fierce winter storm toppled buildings damaged by Israeli attacks in its genocidal war on the territory, the Wafa news agency is reporting.
Several others, including a one-year-old child, died due to the extreme cold, civil defence and hospital officials reported Tuesday, as a low-pressure system brought cold temperatures, heavy rains and chilling winds to the coastal enclave, where tens of thousands of displaced people are surviving in flimsy, inadequate shelters.
Israel continues to block desperately needed humanitarian aid and critical supplies for shelters from entering the besieged Gaza Strip in violation of a ceasefire that began on October 10.
Wafa reported that five people had died when war-damaged buildings collapsed during the storm.
Palestinian Civil Defence and officials at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City's Remal neighbourhood said that at least three people, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed when one building collapsed in Gaza City, while another was killed in a separate building collapse in the city.
The news agency reported that there had been several other deaths among children and the elderly due to the cold weather.
A source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah said one of the victims was a one-year-old who died in a tent before being brought to the facility.
Two other children had died on Monday night due to the freezing conditions and inadequate shelter, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
"We've had children die of hypothermia again in the last few days. We've now gone to six children who died of hypothermia just in this winter," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said on Tuesday.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal warned of catastrophic repercussions from the storm for Gaza's population, the majority of whom have been left without adequate shelter as a result of Israel's war and its ongoing restrictions on goods entering the territory.
In a statement, Hamas said it was regrettable that the international community was failing to provide relief to Gaza, saying the rising death toll and spread of illness showed the territory was "experiencing the most horrific form of genocide".
A civil defence spokesperson said hospitals across the territory were observing an influx of patients, particularly children, with cold-related illnesses, and the organisation had received hundreds of calls for support due to extreme cold.
He said shelters had been damaged by the storm and were no longer fit for use, while other tents were being blown away completely by strong winds in western Gaza City.
Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the situation was the worst it had been since the winter storms began.
Source: Qatar Tribune