• 2 more Palestinians died in occupied East Jerusalem as storm caused flooding across West Bank

GAZA, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Five Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Monday night after buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes collapsed as a powerful storm battered the enclave, Palestinian civil defense and medical sources said Tuesday.

Four Palestinians, including an elderly man, a child, and two women, were killed after cracked homes and unstable structures collapsed due to heavy rainfall and strong winds in Gaza, civil defense officials said.

Several others were injured in separate incidents involving partially damaged buildings in Gaza City as winds intensified overnight.

An elderly man was also killed on Tuesday while inside his tent near the destroyed Al-Saraya Mosque in Gaza City, as remnants of the mosque minaret fell during the storm.

The storm has worsened conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians living in tents across the Gaza Strip, where strong winds and heavy rain since the night hours have flooded, torn apart, and uprooted thousands of makeshift shelters, particularly along the coast, eyewitnesses said.

In central Gaza, thousands of displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp sought refuge in mosques and partially damaged buildings after their tents collapsed or were severely damaged by the storm, witnesses told Anadolu.

Gaza’s government media office said that 127,000 of the 135,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians are no longer fit for habitation as a severe polar cold grips the Gaza Strip.

Media office director Ismail Al-Thawabteh said the weather system has exposed critical shortages of shelter, blankets and heating, particularly among families living in worn-out tents and in remote areas.

He said the shortage of blankets and heating supplies exceeds 70% across Gaza, adding that displaced families face freezing temperatures without adequate protection from rain, moisture and cold ground.

The Palestinian group Hamas said the continued deaths of children and the elderly due to cold weather and collapsing homes show that Gaza is still enduring what it described as the most severe forms of genocide, criticizing the international community for failing to deliver sufficient aid.

The Israeli army has killed more than 71,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in a brutal offensive since October 2023 that has left the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Despite a ceasefire that began on Oct. 10, 2025, the Israeli army has continued its attacks, killing 442 Palestinians and wounding over 1,200 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Separately, two Palestinians died in occupied East Jerusalem as the storm caused flooding and emergencies across the occupied West Bank.

The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that Najah Marrar, 55, died after large quantities of rainwater flooded her home in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Anata town, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, with water levels reaching around 150 centimeters.

The statement added that her elderly neighbor, Khalil Fouad Ghaith, 67, died after suffering a heart attack due to the shock caused by the flooding.

The governorate’s emergency committee said around nine homes were completely flooded, prompting the evacuation of residents, after initial attempts to open drainage channels failed before alternative routes were later created to limit the damage.

The Palestinian Civil Defense said it responded to 65 firefighting and rescue incidents across the West Bank from Monday evening until Tuesday morning due to the storm.