Gaza, November 15 (QNA) Standing in a pool of rainwater that has engulfed her tent and destroyed its contents, the Palestinian Kifah Al Najjar desperately tries to salvage what remains, blankets, mattresses, and food supplies.
But the fragile shelter, built from plastic sheets, nylon, and wooden poles atop the ruins of her home in Gaza's Al Zaytoun neighborhood, has collapsed under the weight of the storm.
With six children and no protection, Al Najjar, whose husband was killed at the start of the war, watches helplessly as her belongings are soaked and scattered.
She told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that she feared this moment long before winter arrived. The tent couldn't shield them from the summer heat, and now it's drowning them in the cold.
The first major weather system to hit Gaza this season brought heavy rains, strong winds, and plunging temperatures, flooding hundreds of tents and worsening the plight of thousands of displaced families.
Entire neighborhoods, Al Zaytoun, Al Daraj, Al Shati Camp, Deir Al Balah, Al Bureij, and Khan Younis's Al Mawasi, saw shelters submerged, leaving families exposed and desperate.
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said teams are overwhelmed, receiving constant distress calls from camps and shelters but lacking the equipment to respond. Their vehicles and tools were destroyed in the war. They can't reach them.
Gaza's humanitarian crisis, already dire after the destruction of 92 percent of its residential buildings, is now compounded by the weather. Thousands of families are living in tents or unstable homes at risk of collapse.
Director General of Gaza's Government Media Office Dr. Ismail Al Thawabta stated that the Strip urgently needs at least 250,000 tents and 100,000 caravans to provide temporary shelter.
After two years of war and suffering, he said, they hoped the ceasefire would bring relief, but the occupation's refusal to allow aid, food, medicine, and shelter materials has kept Gaza trapped in tragedy.

As heavy rains lash Gaza, the suffering of displaced families and residents living among the ruins of destroyed homes deepens, according to municipal spokesperson Hosni Mehanna.
He stressed that over 93 percent of tents sheltering displaced people are now severely worn out after enduring successive seasons of heat and cold.
Rainwater has pooled between camps and flooded streets, with no functioning drainage systems to redirect it.
Mehanna told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that Gaza's rainwater networks were systematically destroyed during two years of Israeli aggression, causing sewage to overflow and mix with stormwater, sweeping through shelters, wreckage, and displacement camps.
Despite having plans to mitigate the impact of winter storms, Gaza Municipality lacks the equipment to implement them due to the deliberate dismantling of its infrastructure, he affirmed.
The crisis extends beyond shelter. Makeshift field hospitals and medical tents, set up to replace bombed-out facilities, have collapsed under the storm, halting services.
Director of Medical Relief in Gaza Dr. Bassam Zaqout confirmed that many health and social service points are tents without foundations, now rendered inoperable by the weather.
Warning that the storm will have catastrophic consequences for Gaza's displaced population, UNRWA in a statement, said families are seeking refuge wherever possible, including in temporary tents, and called for urgent permission to deliver shelter supplies already in its possession.
Despite the formal end of Israeli aggression, which destroyed 92 percent of Gaza's residential buildings, the blockade on essential shelter materials, such as tents and caravans, remains.
This has forced families to live in unsafe, collapsing structures or deteriorated tents, risking their lives with every rainfall. (QNA)