The first winter storm of the season flooded about 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza within 12 hours on Saturday, washing away shelters, soaking mattresses and blankets, and leaving families wading through ankle-deep water mixed with sewage. Aid groups say more than a million displaced people now face a harsh winter with almost no shelter supplies to protect them.
Rain began falling early on Saturday, November 7, and within hours Gaza's civil defence agency said it had received about 1,500 distress calls from residents whose tents and shelters were flooding. Water levels rose by 30 to 40 centimetres at several shelter sites, according to the agency, and dozens of walls collapsed. Injuries were reported, but no fatalities had been reported by Saturday evening, according to officials cited by Reuters.
"What we feared has actually happened," civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Al Jazeera. "A few shelter centres were completely flooded, and everyone inside them has now been forced out into the unknown." Basal said premature babies, the elderly and the sick were most at risk.
What happened
The storm hit the entire Gaza Strip on Friday night and Saturday, striking a population that has spent years living in tents and damaged buildings. Gaza's Government Media Office said about 70,000 tents were flooded in the first 12 hours of the storm, with initial losses estimated at about $3 million.
In al-Mawasi, the coastal area in southern Gaza where more than 900,000 displaced people are sheltering, rain had been falling since 10pm on Friday, Al Jazeera reported. More than 125,000 families living along the coast were at particular risk of having their tents swept away by the sea, according to the broadcaster's correspondent in Khan Younis.
Footage from camps in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah showed families wading through ankle-deep water, mattresses and blankets soaked, and children standing barefoot in pools of mud and sewage. In the northern Gaza Strip, the wall of a building fell down in heavy rain, injuring two people, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. In the central Nuseirat area, rescuers evacuated residents of a building that partially collapsed in the strong winds and rain. Three abandoned houses collapsed without causing injuries, officials said.
The storm also reached Gaza's battered 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 of a rise in gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin infections as sewage mixed with rainwater inside tents, and said newborns who need warmth were in particular danger.
Many of the tents were put up in the first year of displacement and are now in their fourth winter, patched and re-stitched by their owners. Under the ceasefire's humanitarian protocol, they were supposed to be replaced with caravans, which have not been allowed into the territory, according to Al Jazeera.
Why the shelters failed
The flooding exposed how little shelter material has reached Gaza. 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 along with heating supplies.
Raed al-Dahshan, director of civil defence in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that crews could do little once they reached flooded families. "Civil defence does not have a single tarpaulin or a single tent," he said. "We deal only with saving lives, and that is not enough."
Mohammed Salha, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, told Al Jazeera that only 180 to 200 trucks were entering Gaza daily, far short of the 600 agreed under the humanitarian protocol of the ceasefire, and that only about 40 of those carried humanitarian aid. He said 50,000 tents had been waiting on the Egyptian side of the border.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that as of November 1, people in Gaza needed approximately 121,000 tents, 561,000 tarpaulins and 1.7 million mattresses to prepare for the cold and rainy season. About 950,000 displaced people are living in areas exposed to flooding, OCHA said, and about 294,250 families need shelter assistance ahead of winter, with available supplies covering only 18 percent of their needs.
| Shelter need (OCHA, as of 1 November) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Tents needed | About 121,000 |
| Tarpaulins needed | About 561,000 |
| Mattresses needed | About 1.7 million |
| Displaced people in flood-exposed areas | About 950,000 |
| Families needing shelter assistance | About 294,250 |
| Share of needs covered by available supplies | 18 percent |
About 44,000 Palestinians are living in structurally unsafe buildings, according to OCHA figures cited by Al Jazeera, while more than 4,000 buildings across the territory are estimated to require full or partial demolition because of damage from Israeli air strikes.
The wider storm
The same storm system hit the Eastern Mediterranean coast, bringing heavy rain to coastal Israel as well. Floods were reported in the northern town of Binyamina, which received about 50 millimetres of rainfall within an hour on Saturday morning, causing blackouts and road closures in several cities, the Times of Israel reported.
Gaza's Government Media Office held Israel "fully responsible" for what it called a disaster caused by the continued closure of crossings and the blocking of shelter and reconstruction materials, and urged the international community and UN agencies to intervene. Hamas municipal and civil defence officials said Israel has not allowed prefabricated homes to enter Gaza since the truce was announced, and has only permitted limited numbers of tents.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said in a statement on November 6 that it had stepped up efforts to improve sanitary conditions across Gaza before the heavy rain, which had been expected, in coordination with international organisations. The agency said four additional vacuum trucks entered Gaza this week through the International Committee of the Red Cross to support sewage pumping and waste removal.
What is not yet established: the 70,000-tent figure comes from Gaza's Government Media Office, which is run by Hamas; it is the figure reported by Reuters and other outlets, but no independent count exists. No deaths have been reported from the flooding so far, and the full scale of damage to buildings is still being assessed. Claims about who is responsible for the shelter shortages are contested: Gaza's authorities blame Israeli restrictions, while Israeli authorities say they have stepped up preparations and blame Hamas for the crisis.
Frequently asked questions
How many tents were flooded?
About 70,000 tents were flooded within 12 hours of the first winter storm, according to Gaza's Government Media Office. The figure was reported by Reuters, Al Jazeera and other outlets. Tens of thousands of displaced people were affected.
Was anyone killed in the flooding?
No fatalities had been reported by Saturday evening, according to officials cited by Reuters. People were injured, including two hurt when a wall collapsed in northern Gaza, and three abandoned houses collapsed without causing injuries.
Why are the tents so vulnerable?
Many tents were erected in the first year of displacement and are now in their fourth winter, patched and re-stitched by their owners. Under the ceasefire's humanitarian protocol they were supposed to be replaced with caravans, which have not been allowed into Gaza. OCHA says available shelter supplies cover only 18 percent of needs.
What is needed now?
Gaza's emergency committee says the territory urgently needs about 200,000 tents along with heating supplies. OCHA's figures put the need at about 121,000 tents, 561,000 tarpaulins and 1.7 million mattresses. Aid groups say 50,000 tents are waiting on the Egyptian side of the border.
What happens next?
More rain is expected through the winter, and aid agencies warn the first storm is a preview of months of flooding for people living in tents and damaged buildings. The test now is whether crossings open to shelter materials — tents, tarpaulins, prefabricated homes and heating supplies — before the next storm arrives.
Key takeaways
- About 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians were flooded within 12 hours of the first winter storm, with 1,500 distress calls to civil defence.
- No deaths have been reported, but injuries occurred and al-Shifa hospital's emergency department flooded and closed for about four hours.
- More than a million displaced people face winter in tents and damaged buildings, with shelter supplies covering only 18 percent of needs, according to OCHA.
- Aid groups say 50,000 tents are waiting on the Egyptian side of the border, and only 180 to 200 trucks a day are entering Gaza, far short of the 600 agreed under the ceasefire protocol.
- The storm also flooded towns in coastal Israel, including Binyamina, which received about 50 millimetres of rain in an hour.
The first storm of winter has shown what aid agencies warned about for months: that Gaza's displaced population would face the cold and rain with almost nothing between them and the weather. Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, and the territory's infrastructure — drainage, sewage, hospitals and housing — is badly damaged. A US-brokered ceasefire in 2025 called for eventual reconstruction, but little progress has been made. Whether the next storm meets a better-prepared Gaza depends on what crosses the border in the days ahead — and on whether the shelter materials already waiting in Egypt are allowed in.
