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Powerful winter gusts brought walls down upon flimsy shelters sheltering Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing no fewer than four people. This tragedy highlights the perilous situation that continue after more than 24 months of intense airstrikes and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers No Respite from Harsh Elements

Although a truce has been active since last fall, aid groups state that residents broadly lack the sufficient shelter necessary to survive recurring cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the victims, reported on Tuesday that the deceased include two women, a girl, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry stated on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 members of a one family — 72-year-old a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall collapsed on top of their tent in a coastal area of the city. No fewer than 5 additional people were hurt in the incident.

Their relatives on that day began removing the rubble that had entombed their loved ones and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Efforts and Ongoing Emergency

The UN and its humanitarian partners were handing out shelter kits, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies across Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians live in improvised tents since their houses were turned into ruins over the course of the war. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of building supplies are reaching Gaza under the truce.

Casualty Figures After the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says over four hundred and forty individuals have been killed by gunfire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the truce began. The authority maintains comprehensive casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and outside analysts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 children below eighteen years old – sixty boys and 40 females – had been killed since the truce began due to armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of bullets. Those figures, he explained, reflected cases where sufficient information had been gathered to justify documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He noted that hundreds of children had been injured.

"While 'explosions and gunfire have slowed' under the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now calls calm would be viewed as a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Third Winter of Struggle

Gaza’s population of more than two million individuals has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms away while enduring shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed throughout the colder season. This marks the third winter since the conflict involving Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked Israeli territory and murdered approximately twelve hundred people and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over seventy-one thousand four hundred Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign.