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Strong winter gusts brought walls down upon fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict in Gaza, killing no fewer than four people. These deaths underscores the dangerous situation that persist after more than 24 months of devastating bombardment and severe lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers No Respite from Harsh Weather

Although a truce has been active from last fall, humanitarian organizations report that residents broadly lack the sufficient shelter necessary to survive frequent cold-weather events.

Officials at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, said on Tuesday that the deceased were two women, a young female, and a man.

Separately, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of hypothermia overnight.

"International actors has allowed us to witness loss of life in all its forms," stated a family member following the burial. "While it is correct the shelling may have paused for now, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Crushed in Tent Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, 3 members of a single family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an eight-metre tall wall fell on top of their tent in a area near the sea of Gaza City. At least five additional people were injured in the incident.

Their relatives on Tuesday began clearing the debris that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were handing out shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothes as well as food and hygiene supplies across Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of Palestinians live in improvised tents since their homes were reduced to ruins during the war. Humanitarian organizations say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza under the truce.

Casualty Numbers After the Truce

The Gaza health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, reports over four hundred and forty people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the truce began. The authority maintains detailed casualty data that are considered generally reliable by UN agencies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that at least 100 children below eighteen years old – sixty boys and forty females – had been killed after the ceasefire began due to military operations, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, tank shelling and use of live ammunition. These numbers, he explained, reflected cases where sufficient information had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He noted that hundreds of children had been injured.

"While 'bombings and shootings have slowed' under the truce, they have not stopped," Elder told reporters at a press conference in Geneva by video from Gaza City. "So what the international community now calls quiet would be considered a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of over two million individuals has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a absence of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the winter months. It’s the third winter since the conflict between the state and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when militants stormed into Israeli territory and murdered around 1,200 individuals and abducted two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

The local health authority says more than 71,400 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign.