DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Barefoot children played on cold sand as thousands of displaced Gazans prepared empty tents Saturday for another round of winter rains.
Some families in the central city of Deir al-Balah said they have been living in tents for about two years, or most of the war between Israel and Hamas that devastated the territory.
The fathers would reinforce the fraying tents with old pieces of wood or inspect the frayed edges of holes torn in the tarps. Inside the low houses, the daylight through tiny holes shines like stars.
The mothers fought the damp clothing and hang it on poles or a cord to dry in the wind between the rains that turn the paths into puddles. One mother pulled a tiny baby away from a moldy patch of carpet.
“We have been living in this tent for two years. Every time it rains and the tent collapses on top of us, we try to put new pieces of wood,” said Shaima Wadi, a mother of four who was displaced from Jabaliya in the North. “With how expensive everything has become, and without any income, we can barely afford clothes for our children or mattresses to sleep on.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, said dozens of people, including a two-week-old baby, died from hypothermia or after weather-related collapses of war-damaged houses. Aid organizations have called for more shelters and other humanitarian aid to be allowed into the territory.
Emergency workers warned people not to stay in damaged buildings. But with so much territory reduced to rubble, there are few places to escape the rain.
“I collect nylon, cardboard and plastic from the streets to keep them warm,” said Ahmad Wadi, who burns the materials or uses them as a kind of blanket for loved ones. “They don’t have a proper cover. It’s freezing, the humidity is high, and water is coming in from everywhere. I don’t know what to do.”
Ceasefire talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit Washington in the coming days as negotiators and others discuss the second stage of the ceasefire that went into effect on October 10.
Although the agreement mostly held, its progress slowed. The remains of the final hostage taken during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, which sparked the war, are still in Gaza. Challenges in the next phase of the ceasefire include the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said that since the ceasefire came into effect, 414 Palestinians have been killed and 1,142 injured. She said that the bodies of 679 people were pulled from the rubble during the same period that the truce makes it safer to search for the remains of the people killed earlier.
The Ministry on Saturday said that 29 bodies, including 25 that were recovered from under the rubble, were brought to local hospitals during the last 48 hours.
The total number of Palestinian deaths from the war between Israel and Hamas has risen to at least 71,266, the ministry said, and another 171,219 have been wounded.
The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its numbers, is made up of medical professionals and keeps detailed records considered generally reliable by the international community.
West Bank Operation
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Saturday that a military operation continued in a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank a day after police said a Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both.
The statement said that the army had surrounded the town of Qabatiya, where Katz said the attacker was from, and was operating “by force” there. Authorities on Friday said the attacker was shot and wounded in Afula. He was taken to hospital.
It is a common practice for Israel to launch raids in West Bank cities that the attackers come from or demolish houses belonging to the attackers’ families. Israel says it helps locate militant infrastructure and prevent future attacks. Rights watchdogs describe such actions as collective punishment.
AP video on Saturday showed Israeli bulldozers entering the city and soldiers patrolling.
“They announced a strict curfew,” said resident Bilal Hanash, as he and others described the main roads being closed off with dirt barriers, a practice that grew during the war in Gaza. “So basically, they’re punishing 30,000 people.”
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Find out more about AP Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
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Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed.