Strong winds and heavy rain in Gaza have exacerbated the suffering of displaced families, tearing apart fragile tents and flooding them with water, soaking clothes and blankets, and leaving everyone shivering.
In a tent camp in Rafah, located on sandy land littered with garbage, people were trying to recover after a dreadful night, carrying buckets of sand to cover puddles inside or just outside their tents, and hanging wet clothes. Some families have suitable tents, but others make do with tarp or thin plastic sheeting designed to protect goods, not to provide shelter for people. Many tents lack mats or anything to spread on the ground, forcing people to spend the night huddled on the damp sand.
Ramadan Mohd, a middle-aged man attempting to fix his family's shelter made of plywood sheets and thin plastic cover, said, "The nylon tore on us, and the water came in, and we were soaked in the rain... The rain came in." Mohd's white striped shirt was heavily stained and wet around the collar and both shoulders. He stated, "We tried as best as we could to help ourselves so the rain wouldn’t get in, but it still came in with no use. The nylon doesn’t protect the people sleeping under it."
Cracks were evident in the plastic makeshift shelters of other families, with puddles visible inside. One family placed a concrete block at the entrance as a barrier, along with smaller bricks resembling stones inside. Yasmin Mahani indicated that she woke up at night to find her seven-month-old baby soaked. Her family of five shares a single blanket after an Israeli airstrike destroyed their home, resulting in the loss of one of their children as well as all their belongings. "The house collapsed, the baby was martyred, and I have no bag with me, just wearing short sleeves,” she said, hanging wet clothes outside her tent.
Fear of Displacement to Egypt
Rafah, located near the border with Egypt, in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, is seeing an increasing influx of people seeking refuge, fleeing the violent conflict between Israel and Hamas now ongoing in both the north and south. Inas, a 38-year-old mother of five, mentioned that she and her family had to flee four times since the war began, first from the Al-Tuwam area north of Gaza City to the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, from the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza to Khan Younis, and now to Rafah.
She added, "The family previously had a five-story house and a supermarket, which have been completely destroyed." Israel denies having any plans to push Palestinians into Sinai, while Egypt has stated that it "does not want a large influx of people from Gaza." However, the border fence between Gaza and Egypt has been breached in the past, raising fears of an uncontrolled influx this time.
Israel began its campaign to destroy the armed Hamas movement controlling Gaza after its fighters breached the border fence on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 240 hostages of all ages. Since then, Israeli bombardments and blockades have resulted in the deaths of over 18,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities, with concerns that thousands more are buried under the rubble.
