The first major winter storm has torn through displacement camps in central Gaza, exposing the full scale of a crisis long warned about but never addressed. Hours of rain and strong winds transformed entire camps into thick mud, overwhelming the fragile shelters of tens of thousands of people who have already lost their homes to two years of genocidal war. Local officials described the situation as a looming catastrophe, with winter still weeks away.

Across Deir al-Balah and neighbouring areas, families woke to water pouring into their tents, the rain gathering rapidly on clay soil before seeping straight inside. People scrambled to lift mattresses and blankets out of the mud, but most had no tools, no plastic sheeting and no dry space left. A number of the worst-hit zones lie in low-lying areas where water collects quickly, leaving whole clusters of tents submerged within minutes. Residents reported entire rows collapsing overnight, forcing families to stand in the cold while searching for somewhere, anywhere, still dry.

Municipal workers said they had received a wave of pleas for help but could do almost nothing, cut off by a lack of machinery and materials. No sandbags, no bulldozers, and no equipment remain to reinforce the camps after months of destruction. Officials estimated that around 300,000 displaced people are currently living in Deir al-Balah alone, most in tents worn thin by sun, wind and repeated displacement. With the storm sweeping the length of the Strip, families from several districts described the same conditions: soaked bedding, ruined possessions and children shivering through the night as the cold set in.

The storm has deepened an already dire situation for more than a million people living in makeshift shelters across Gaza, many of whose homes were destroyed in the ongoing genocidal war. Entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins, leaving families with nothing but fragile fabric walls to shield them from winter. With almost no supplies allowed in and essential shelter materials still blocked outside the territory, people fear that this first weather depression is merely a warning of a far harsher season to come, one they will face with no protection against the rain or the cold, and no certainty of survival through the months ahead.