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Strong cold-season winds caused walls to collapse upon fragile shelters housing Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, killing at least four individuals. These deaths highlights the perilous situation that persist after more than 24 months of devastating airstrikes and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Provides Little Relief from Severe Elements

Although a ceasefire has been in effect from October, aid groups state that Palestinians do not have the sufficient shelter required to survive recurring cold-weather events.

Officials at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, reported on Tuesday that the dead were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the local health authority announced on the same day that a one-year-old boy succumbed of hypothermia during the night.

"The world has allowed us to experience loss of life in all its forms," stated a family member following the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Tent Collapse

As per the medical center, 3 people of a one household — 72-year-old a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were killed when an eight-metre tall wall collapsed on top of their dwelling in a coastal area of the city. At least five others were injured in the incident.

Family members on that day began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and reconstructing the temporary homes for those who remained.

Aid Efforts and Continuing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were distributing shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothing as well as food and sanitation items across Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of Palestinians live in makeshift shelters because their houses were reduced to ruins during the hostilities. Aid groups say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the truce.

Casualty Figures After the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 individuals have been killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the truce went into effect. The authority keeps comprehensive fatality records that are considered largely accurate by international bodies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on that day that at least 100 minors under the age of 18 – sixty boys and 40 girls – had been lost their lives after the ceasefire started because of military operations, such as drone strikes, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, reflected cases where sufficient details had been gathered to warrant recording, but the total toll is expected to be greater. He added that many hundreds of children had been wounded.

"Although 'bombings and shootings have decreased' during the truce, they have not stopped," Elder told journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video from Gaza City. "So what the international community now calls quiet would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he concluded.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of more than 2 million people has been fighting to keep the cold weather and bad weather away while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd cold season since the war between Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and took hostage 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports more than 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.