Gaza Strip: Tents sink into water – displaced people without protection

Heavy rains and strong winds have flooded and collapsed numerous tents in the Gaza Strip. As various media outlets reported, citing local correspondents, a severe winter storm hit the area on Friday evening. The media office of the Islamist Hamas government announced that 70,000 tents had been flooded. The information cannot be independently verified. A correspondent for the daily newspaper “taz” suspects that significantly more tents could be affected.

The floods are exacerbating the already precarious humanitarian situation of the approximately two million people in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director of Save the Children International, told the Saudi news channel Al Jazeera that the situation was "heartbreaking" and "completely predictable." Last winter there were already floods in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has had a significantly greater presence again since the ceasefire announced in October 2025.

As the "taz" correspondent reports, the displaced people have been repeatedly demanding that the local Hamas administrations dig simple drainage ditches to protect their tents for months. Nothing has happened since then. Instead, Hamas is focusing its efforts on collecting taxes and fees for setting up tents. No measures would be taken to improve the humanitarian situation.

The Israeli army has now been active in the Gaza Strip for the third year and occupies 60 percent of the area. Hamas and terrorists from other extremist organizations abducted more than 250 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip during the massacre on October 7, 2023. The unprecedented attack with around 1,200 deaths in Israel triggered the Gaza War. Since then, more than 73,900 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. Despite a ceasefire agreed last October, the Israeli army continues to attack targets in the Gaza Strip.