GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL
Heavy rains have submerged dozens of tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip amid bad weather conditions in the enclave, witnesses said Tuesday.
Several tents were destroyed by rainfall in al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, while others were blown away by strong winds in the area, they told Anadolu.
“The situation in the city is extremely catastrophic due to the destruction of most roads, water, and sewage networks by the Israeli war,” Saib Luqan, a spokesman for Khan Younis Municipality, told Anadolu.
According to local authorities, the Israeli army has destroyed 220,000 linear meters of road networks over the past two years.
Nearly 900,000 people in Khan Younis are currently facing “tragic and grim” conditions due to bad weather conditions, Luqan said.
The spokesman added that municipal teams are working with insufficient equipment to help displaced civilians affected by the bad weather.
According to the Gaza Government Media Office, 1.5 million Palestinians are displaced in Gaza, living in catastrophic conditions with little access to basic necessities and severely limited essential services due to Israel’s ongoing blockade.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured more than 170,900 people in the two-year war that has left much of the enclave in ruins.