DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza struggled to recover Tuesday from torrential rains that lashed the enclave for days, flooding camps for the displaced, collapsed buildings already damaged in the two-year war and leaving at least 12 dead, including a two-week-old baby.
The runoff, which dumped more than 150 milliliters (9 inches) of rain on parts of Gaza over the past week, turned dirt lanes into mud and flooded tents in camps for the displaced.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health, part of the Hamas-led government, said Tuesday that the two-week-old boy died of hypothermia as a result of the weather. The baby was brought to the hospital a few days ago and was transferred to intensive care but died on Monday.
In Gaza City, a man died on Tuesday after a house that was already damaged during Israeli strikes, collapsed due to heavy rain, according to Shifa Hospital.
Members of the al-Hosari family said that 30 people lived in the building, but only nine were at home when it collapsed. The man who was killed was a worker who had come to fix the walls, they said. Five people were injured.
The Ministry of Health said that the remaining 10 people were killed last week, also from a building that collapsed due to the rain and strong wind.
Emergency workers have warned people not to congregate in damaged buildings for fear of collapse, although much of the territory has been reduced to rubble, there are few places to escape the rain. In July, the United Nations Satellite Center estimated that nearly 80% of buildings in Gaza were destroyed or damaged.
“When we hear the news that there is a storm, our whole life changes, we start thinking about where to stay, to go, where to put our mattresses and blankets, and where to keep our children safe and warm,” said Mohammed Gharableh, a displaced father from the southern town of Rafah.
“During every storm like this, water penetrates our tents, and our mattresses and blankets get wet,” he added.
In Israel, areas near Gaza received between 60 mm to 160 mm (2 to 6 inches) of rain in the past week, according to the Israel Meteorological Service, which in some cases is more than double the average amount of rain for this time of year.
Aid groups say that despite a two-month ceasefire, not enough shelter material is flowing into Gaza to help Palestinians cope with the winter. Israeli military figures released recently suggest that it has not met the stipulation of the cease-fire to allow 600 aid trucks a day into Gaza, although Israel disputes that finding.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million people have been displaced, and most people live in vast tent camps that stretch along the coast, or pitched among the rubble of damaged buildings. The buildings do not have adequate flood infrastructure and people use pits dug near the tents as toilets.
The Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, called COGAT, said nearly 270,000 tents and tarps have entered Gaza over the past few months as well as winter goods, shelter equipment, and sanitation supplies.
But some aid groups disputed the figures and said more supplies, especially winter items, were desperately needed.
Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, said last week that it is tracking just 68,000 tents that have entered Gaza through the UN, non-governmental organizations, and several countries. Most of the tents are not properly insulated for the winter, she says.
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Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.