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Powerful winter winds brought walls down onto fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least 4 people. These deaths underscores the dangerous situation that continue after more than two years of intense airstrikes and severe shortages of aid.

Ceasefire Offers Little Respite from Harsh Weather

Although a ceasefire has been active since last fall, aid groups report that Palestinians do not have the adequate shelter required to withstand recurring cold-weather events.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the victims, said on Tuesday that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a young female, and a man.

In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry stated on the same day that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold during the night.

"The world has allowed us to witness loss of life in every possible way," stated a family member after the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 members of a single household — 72-year-old a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were killed when an 26-foot tall wall collapsed onto their dwelling in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least five others were injured in the incident.

Their relatives on that day started clearing the debris that had entombed their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Efforts and Continuing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were handing out shelter kits, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians live in improvised shelters since their homes were reduced to ruins over the course of the hostilities. Aid groups say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Fatality Numbers Since the Truce

The Gaza health ministry, part of the administration, reports over 440 people have been killed by Israeli fire and their remains brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect. The authority keeps detailed fatality data that are seen as largely accurate by UN agencies and outside analysts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 minors under the age of 18 – sixty males and forty girls – had been killed after the ceasefire began because of military operations, including drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and employment of bullets. Those figures, he said, reflected cases where enough details had been gathered to justify recording, but the total toll is believed to be higher. He noted that hundreds of minors had been injured.

"While 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' under the ceasefire, they have not stopped," the spokesperson told reporters at a press conference in Geneva by video link from the Strip. "So what the world now calls calm would be viewed as a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while enduring shortages of assistance and a absence of sturdier transitional shelter, which is urgently required throughout the winter months. It’s the 3rd winter since the war between Israel and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and murdered around twelve hundred people and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.