Bombing, cold and rain: A worsening tragedy for the displaced in the Gaza Strip 

In the Rafah Governorate, south of the Gaza Strip, the rain caused panic for Reem Al-Saqqa, who has been displaced to one of the shelters affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Reem quickly rushed to collect the clothes and hung them up to dry in the morning as the sun rose.

Reem, 36, cried bitterly inside a small tent that her family had set up in the courtyard of the shelter centre when she saw that the rain completely soaked the clothes.

She told an Anadolu Agency correspondent: “There is no roof here to protect us, no wall to protect us from the severity of the cold, and the rain increases our suffering and destroys our things that were difficult to obtain.”

Reem added: “We are living in indescribable tragic conditions. We were displaced from the Al-Remal neighbourhood in Gaza, and we witnessed all kinds of suffering, and now the raindrops have turned into a curse.”

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The rainfall in the Gaza Strip exacerbated the suffering of the displaced in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression since 7 October that caused massive infrastructure destruction and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to official Palestinian and UN sources.

In the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, the displaced live in tents that do not protect them from the winter cold and quickly become submerged in water with the first signs of rain.

Akram Al-Ghazali, a young man displaced from northern Gaza, is trying to alleviate his suffering by covering the primitive tent he set up in that area with pieces of nylon.

Akram told Anadolu Agency: “The rain soaked all the covers and mattresses we owned in a matter of minutes. We tried to protect some of them quickly, but to no avail.”

Al-Ghazali recounted: “We were displaced from our homes in Jabaliya, leaving our mattresses and covers. We only took a few items of clothing, and today the rainwater has soaked them. We do not know when the war will end along with our suffering and when we will return to our home, if the house is still standing.”

With the onset of winter, the displaced people’s need for humanitarian aid is urgent, amid international calls and demands urging the speedy entry of aid and increasing its quantities.

Bilal Al-Hato, 45, lives with his family inside a house under construction west of Deir Al-Balah in the Central Governorate. He told Anadolu Agency: “The most difficult thing about this aggression is that we are forced to face bombing, fear, rain and cold at the same time, and this is beyond what humans can bear.”

As Bilal sat in front of a fire that he lit to keep warm and cook small amounts of food for his family of eight, he mentioned the severe shortage of food supplies and food aid being distributed to the displaced.

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“We can overcome hunger sometimes with small amounts of food, but fear and cold are feelings beyond human control, and we cannot control them.”

Thousands of Palestinians continue to flee from various areas of the Gaza Strip to escape the bombing and ground military operations launched by the Israeli army.

Since 7 October, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating genocidal war on Gaza, which, as of Tuesday evening, left 18,412 dead and 50,100 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian sources.