TEL AVIV: The first heavy rains of the season ahead of winter are exacerbating the plight of many people in the Gaza Strip.
The civil defence authority, which is controlled by Hamas, reported on Friday that thousands of tents for internally displaced people had been affected by flooding due to the heavy rain.
A spokesman for the authority described the situation as a disaster. Palestinian and social media have shared videos showing people in the Gaza Strip trying to remove large amounts of water from their tents with buckets.
A ceasefire in the Gaza war has been in place since October 10, but many people continue to live in precarious conditions in the extensively destroyed area. Many temporary dwellings offer no protection from the weather.
One woman, 32-year-old Amal Abu Hassan, said that the tent belonging to her family was flooded last night. “All our bedding, clothes and some of our food supplies are ruined”, said the distraught mother of four from Gaza City.
Fatima al Masri, who is 28 and from the city of Deir Al Balah located in the central section of the Gaza Strip, said that the wet conditions are making life unbearable. Her children are coughing and the streets are flooded. Her family has lost everything and has not yet received any help, she said.
Ahmed al Khatib, 45, from the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, said all his belongings are soaked. “We have nowhere dry to sleep”. He also reported power outages due to fallen pylons in his area.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which is no longer receiving US funding, on Thursday asked other donor nations for more money, warning that its operations could suffer without a cash infusion.
“We run week by week, month by month. I know that as of today, we will be able to process our salaries in November, but have no idea if or no visibility if we will be able to process our salaries in December”, chief Philippe Lazzarini told a press conference.
Israel has barred UNRWA from operating on its soil after accusing some of its employees of participating in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, which triggered the bloody conflict in Gaza.
Following those allegations, the United States — historically the agency’s biggest donor — suspended its support.
In the wake of Israel’s decision, UNRWA was forced to repatriate its international staff from Gaza and the West Bank, limiting its food aid distribution abilities.
But it still employs 12,000 people in the Palestinian territories and its services are vital to Palestinians, Lazzarini insisted.
“About 75,000 people were sheltered in 100 of our premises across the Gaza Strip”, he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.
“We have, over the last two years, provided more than 15 million primary health consultations. Today, the average is about 14,000 a day”, he added, also noting the agency’s joint vaccination campaign with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation.
UNRWA predicts that its budget shortfall between the last quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 will be about $200 million.
“Unlike in previous years, the projected income in the first quarter of 2026 is too low to absorb a large deficit from 2025”, Lazzarini said.
“In the absence of a significant influx of new funding, the delivery of critical services to millions of Palestine refugees across the region will be compromised”.
While US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said UNRWA will have no role in postwar Gaza, Lazzarini noted that since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold, “we have expanded our services”.
