For days, hundreds of Palestinian families have been sleeping under the open sky, with nothing to shield them from the biting cold and relentless winter winds. On January 24, displaced residents who had sought refuge in central and southern Gaza returned to the north, only to find their homes reduced to rubble. Their return coincided with a severe cold front, making an already unbearable situation even worse.

Hossam Ahmed, 42, who fled to southern Gaza but has now returned to Gaza City, described his ordeal: "I set up a tattered tent in front of my destroyed home in Al-Zaytoun, but the storm wiped it away—just as the war had wiped away our lives. For the past two nights, I have slept under the open sky. We came back from the south hoping to rebuild, only for the wind to tear apart what little we had left. Our tent, our bedding, our belongings—everything was gone in an instant. We ran through the streets in the dark, stumbling over ruins, waking up to the nightmare that Gaza has become."

The displaced in northern Gaza are enduring unimaginable suffering. The cold front has ripped apart their makeshift shelters, leaving families exposed. With infrastructure obliterated and basic services nonexistent, survival has become a daily battle. Children huddle together for warmth, their clothes soaked from the rain. As temperatures plummet, many fall sick—fevers, vomiting, and relentless coughing spread through the makeshift camps. Yet, there is no refuge, no medicine, no relief.

For those who have returned, the war did not end when the bombs stopped falling. It continues in the ruins of their homes, in the icy winds that cut through their fragile tents, and in the silent cries of children who shiver through the night.