UN warns: Palestinians’ humanitarian over winter catastrophe on their fragile lives
Gaza Strip, Palestine/London-UK, November 28, 2025
GAZA FACES NEW CATASTROPHE:
Winter Rains Damage 13,000 Tents as Aid Restrictions on Shelter Supplies Force Millions to Endure Sewage-Contaminated Floods
The already catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has rapidly deteriorated into a deadly new phase, as a severe Lack of Tents, Food and Warm Clothes Leaves Gazans Exposed Ahead of Winter, and recent heavy rains have seen Floods Swamp Homeless Palestinians’ Tents across the coastal enclave.
According to multiple UN agencies, the combination of devastating infrastructure damage, critical aid restrictions, and the onset of cold, wet weather has created a perfect storm, placing the lives of more than 1.7 million displaced people—the majority of Gaza’s population—at imminent risk of hypothermia and a massive surge in infectious diseases.
The lack of basic shelter is now the most urgent crisis, leaving families literally soaked in floodwaters contaminated with raw sewage.
The first major downpours of the season struck the displacement camps and makeshift settlements this week, causing an immediate disaster.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed that heavy rain and flash floods have affected over 740,000 people and damaged or destroyed at least 13,000 tents and makeshift shelters across the Strip.
Eyewitnesses in the hardest-hit areas, such as Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, reported finding their meagre belongings—soaked mattresses, blankets, and children’s clothes—floating in ankle-deep water.
Aid workers described children sleeping on the bare, muddy ground, their shelters having entirely collapsed under the strain of the water.
Crucially, the situation is drastically worsened by the utter collapse of the Strip’s public health infrastructure.
The continuous conflict has decimated the wastewater treatment systems, forcing displaced families to rely on open cesspits dug near their flimsy tents for sanitation.
The heavy rainfall inevitably caused these cesspits to overflow, mixing raw sewage water with the floodwaters that swept through the camps.
This toxic deluge has created an unparalleled breeding ground for communicable diseases. With malnourished children being the most vulnerable, agencies like Save the Children warn that they are at acute risk of cholera, diarrhoea, and deadly respiratory infections, compounding the already high mortality rates recorded among children last winter due to hypothermia and lack of care.
The core failure lies in the profound deficit of shelter and winterization supplies. The UN Shelter Cluster reports that despite the fragile ceasefire that began in October, the amount of essential shelter aid entering Gaza is shockingly insufficient.
While more than one million displaced people require robust shelter, fewer than 13,000 tents have entered the territory since the ceasefire began, which is less than a tenth of the estimated need.
Furthermore, aid agencies have publicly and repeatedly stated that the necessary materials—including durable winterized tents, tarpaulins, and specialized flood-mitigation equipment—are subject to severe constraints and delays imposed by the Israeli authorities at border crossings.
This restriction on the entry of basic supplies directly prevents organizations from mitigating the predictable devastation of the Mediterranean winter.
Beyond shelter, the crisis in food security remains dire. Despite international efforts to increase overall food tonnage, dietary diversity remains dangerously low.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that while there has been a slight improvement since the summer, approximately 25 per cent of all households in Gaza are still forced to subsist on only one meal per day, with families often prioritizing the few available calories for children at the expense of adults.
The lack of access to protein, fruits, and vegetables means malnutrition is widespread, leaving the populace physically ill-equipped to fight off the infections and cold brought by the torrential rains.
For the London-UK-based CJ Global, the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza is a testament to the international community’s failure to enforce effective humanitarian access.
This crisis is not merely the result of the conflict but of the deliberate administrative impediments to life-saving aid.
The UN warns that without a drastic and immediate surge in the entry of warm clothes, tents, blankets, and materials to repair destroyed sewage systems, the coming winter will turn the humanitarian emergency into a preventable catastrophe, with the toll measured in the lives of the most vulnerable.
Headline Points
Shelter Catastrophe:
Heavy winter rains have damaged or destroyed at least 13,000 tents and makeshift shelters, impacting over 740,000 displaced Palestinians across the Gaza Strip.
Health Hazard:
The floods are contaminated by raw sewage due to the collapse of the wastewater treatment system, creating an extreme risk of disease outbreaks like cholera and severe respiratory infections.
Critical Shortage:
The entry of tents and shelter supplies is severely constrained by aid restrictions, leaving the vast majority of the million displaced people exposed to the elements.
Malnutrition Risk:
Despite the ceasefire, dietary diversity remains critically low, with one in four households still reporting that they consume only one meal per day.
Imminent Threat:
Aid organizations warn that without an immediate surge of warm clothes and shelter aid, preventable deaths from hypothermia and waterborne illnesses will escalate sharply.
