Gaza’s first major winter storm has exposed how little protection many displaced families have against rain, wind and contaminated floodwater. Local authorities reported widespread damage to tents and walls on 7 November, while aid workers and municipal officials described an emergency response constrained by damaged infrastructure and shortages of basic equipment. The scale of the damage remains partly based on local estimates, not an independently audited count.

A storm meets a shelter crisis

Heavy rain and strong winds swept across the Gaza Strip from late Friday into Saturday, flooding makeshift camps and soaking bedding, clothing and food stocks. Gaza’s Government Media Office said about 70,000 tents were flooded during the storm’s first 12 hours and put preliminary direct losses at roughly US$3 million. Those figures are the office’s initial local-authority estimates: they have not been independently audited or verified by the United Nations. Reuters, AFP and Anadolu also reported extensive flooding and families left without usable shelter.

The storm struck a population already living with widespread displacement and damaged housing. Reuters reported that most of Gaza’s more than two million residents had been displaced and that much of the population was living in tent camps. Before the storm, the UN humanitarian office estimated that about 950,000 displaced people were living at sites with medium or high flood risk, including more than 400,000 in high-risk locations. That October assessment describes exposure before the latest rainfall, not a count of people newly affected by this storm.

Sources: Heavy rain floods tents housing Gaza displaced people, aid shortages hamper response · Tents flooded as heavy rain hits Gaza · Rains flood 70,000 displaced families’ tents in Gaza · Humanitarian Situation Report | 15 October 2026

Heavy rain meets weakened drainage

Gaza City received 60 millimetres of rain in 12 hours, equivalent to about 15 per cent of its annual rainfall, according to municipality spokesman Hosni Muhanna, who spoke to Anadolu. The measurement applies to Gaza City and should not be treated as a territory-wide total. Separately, Civil Defence said water levels at several displacement sites rose by 30 to 40 centimetres. Al Jazeera’s reporting from camps in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah described families wading through standing water and trying to salvage soaked mattresses and blankets.

Muhanna told Anadolu that municipal crews received 250 calls about flooded streets, erosion and blocked drains, and responded to most despite limited resources. He warned that 270 camps and shelter sites in Gaza City were at risk of flooding. Damage sustained during the war had reduced the drainage system’s capacity to about 20 per cent, he said, leaving low-lying neighbourhoods particularly exposed. These are municipal assessments reported by Anadolu, rather than measurements independently conducted by the news agency.

Sources: Palestinians Left Without Shelter As Storm Hit 70,000 Tents In Gaza Strip · Rains flood 70,000 displaced families’ tents in Gaza · Humanitarian Situation Report | 15 October 2026

Emergency crews cannot keep pace

Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said it received about 1,500 distress calls as the storm moved through the territory. Al Jazeera reported the agency’s estimate as roughly 1,500 calls in 10 hours, while AFP quoted spokesman Mahmoud Bassal as saying teams had received more than 1,500 requests overnight. The reports differ slightly in their time window and wording, but both describe a surge of urgent calls from people whose tents had flooded or whose shelters were threatened by collapsing structures.

Municipal and Civil Defence officials told Reuters they could not cope with the storm because of fuel shortages and damaged equipment. They said hundreds of vehicles, including bulldozers and water-pumping vehicles, had been destroyed during the war. Raed al-Dahshan, Gaza Civil Defence’s director, told Al Jazeera that crews had not even one tarpaulin or tent to distribute. Anadolu separately reported that rescuers could respond to immediate threats to life but lacked the resources to provide replacement shelter. The constraints matter because flood response depends on working pumps, vehicles, fuel, spare parts and access to affected sites.

Sources: Heavy rain floods tents housing Gaza displaced people, aid shortages hamper response · Tents flooded as heavy rain hits Gaza · Palestinians Left Without Shelter As Storm Hit 70,000 Tents In Gaza Strip · Rains flood 70,000 displaced families’ tents in Gaza

Floodwater also disrupts health services

The storm affected Gaza’s already strained health system. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera that the hospital’s emergency department flooded and was out of service for about four hours. He warned that sewage mixing with rainwater inside displacement tents could increase gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin infections.

Accounts of structural damage and injuries vary by incident. Gaza’s Government Media Office said dozens of walls had collapsed and caused injuries, some serious. Medical sources told Anadolu that five people were injured when two walls of buildings already damaged by earlier strikes collapsed and a sheet of corrugated metal fell. Reuters separately reported that three abandoned houses collapsed without injuries. These accounts describe different reported incidents and should not be combined into one casualty figure; Reuters’ initial Saturday report said no fatalities had been reported at that point.

Sources: Heavy rain floods tents housing Gaza displaced people, aid shortages hamper response · Tents flooded as heavy rain hits Gaza · Palestinians Left Without Shelter As Storm Hit 70,000 Tents In Gaza Strip · Rains flood 70,000 displaced families’ tents in Gaza

Emergency aid arrives amid a dispute over access

The Egyptian Committee for Gaza Relief said it had activated a comprehensive emergency plan for the storm, mobilising field teams and engineering crews to open roads and remove rubble, and starting to distribute new tents to affected and displaced families. The committee was also reinforcing existing tents with tarpaulins, plastic covers and insulation materials to reduce rainwater leakage. The report describes an active response, but not a measure of how many families received adequate replacement shelter.

Responsibility for the shortage of shelter materials remains disputed. Gaza’s Government Media Office blamed Israel for preventing sufficient shelters and construction materials from entering the territory. Reuters said the Israeli agency COGAT did not immediately respond to those accusations; it had said on Friday that it was coordinating sanitation preparations, and that four additional vacuum trucks had entered through the International Committee of the Red Cross that week, joining eight brought in during the previous month. OCHA separately reported tight restrictions on engine oil and spare parts, and said Israeli authorities suspended most humanitarian and commercial shipments from Egypt on 1 November, citing smuggling concerns, with some exceptions.

Sources: Heavy rain floods tents housing Gaza displaced people, aid shortages hamper response · Egypt takes urgent action in Gaza after Palestinian warning of a humanitarian "catastrophe" · Humanitarian Situation Report | 5 November 2026

Winter needs extend beyond the first storm

Gaza’s emergency committee said more than one million displaced people face a harsh winter and that the territory urgently needs about 200,000 tents alongside heating supplies, Al Jazeera reported. Separately, a Gaza City council member told AFP that about 200,000 prefabricated homes were urgently needed, along with heavy machinery and electricity. The two figures refer to different shelter categories and separate officials’ assessments; they should not be combined. OCHA said that, as of 1 November, Gaza still needed about 121,000 tents, 561,000 tarpaulins, 57,000 emergency shelter kits and 1.7 million mattresses.

The gap between needs and available supplies was already substantial before the rain. OCHA reported that stocks inside Gaza included about 2,800 tents, 76,000 tarpaulins and 4,993 mattresses, with no emergency shelter kits available at the time of its 5 November report. It estimated a US$186.5 million funding shortfall against winterisation requirements of US$267.9 million. The storm has turned those shortages into an immediate test: whether shelter materials, fuel, pumps, spare parts and funding can reach families before further winter weather exposes the same vulnerabilities again.

Sources: Tents flooded as heavy rain hits Gaza · Rains flood 70,000 displaced families’ tents in Gaza · Humanitarian Situation Report | 5 November 2026 · Humanitarian Situation Report | 15 October 2026