Displaced Palestinians face severe winter low pressure, worsening humanitarian tragedy in Gaza Strip

Displaced Palestinians across the Gaza Strip spent a harsh rainy and windy night following the deep low pressure system that has affected the enclave for two days.Palestine has been affected since last Wednesday evening by a severe winter low pressure system, with wind speeds having reached 80 kilometers per hour, and its strength was more influential and difficult for the residents of the Strip who live in displacement tents, or others who returned to their completely destroyed homes, or those that are not suitable for housing in the north of the Strip.Hundreds of thousands of citizens whose homes were destroyed live in random tents in the streets of the Gaza Strip, and some in areas, public squares, schools and playgrounds, which lack the minimum services.Amid the strong winds, rain waves and severe cold, thousands of displaced people spent their day trying to secure their worn-out tents and prevent them from being blown away or torn apart by the force of the low pressure system. However, many of them were unlucky enough to hold on to them, as hundreds of tents were blown away, damaged and torn apart, and their owners found themselves in the open or in the middle of rainwater pools, without any shelter.A displaced citizen from the city of Rafah said, as he tried to repair his tent that was destroyed by the winds that last night was one of the most difficult winter nights, as strong winds blew with showers of heavy rain and cold.Speaking to a QNA correspondent, he said that with the onset of the low pressure system and the strong winds, the tent he was staying in in the Al-Mawasi area west of Rafah was blown away.Another citizen explained that his family's life was in grave danger due to the flying wooden planks and metal zinc sheets due to the force of the storm as they fell on us while we were sleeping inside the tent, which led to the tent being torn and broken, and all mattresses, blankets and personal belongings were drowned, and the food supplies were damaged.He added to a QNA correspondent that his family fled from inside the tent during the rain, spending their night in the street under the rain and amidst the strong winds, in a difficult and tragic situation.Director of Public Relations and Media at the Civil Defense Authority in Gaza Mohammed Al Maidana said the low pressure system that is hitting the Gaza Strip has increased the extent and severity of the suffering experienced by citizens and displaced persons in Gaza.He noted that the suffering and lives of displaced persons in various parts of the Gaza Strip are getting worse with the continuation of the low pressure system accompanied by strong winds, and have become more severe with the return of thousands of citizens to their destroyed homes in the northern Gaza Strip, in light of the lack of the minimum requirements for housing and shelter.Al Maidana stressed that the Civil Defense teams are unable and incapable of responding to the distress calls of the displaced persons in tents and shelter centers, whose tents were blown away by the winds or flooded by heavy rains, especially after losing 80% of the Civil Defense capabilities due to the Israeli aggression.In a previous interview with QNA, Salama Maarouf, head of the government media office, accused the Israeli occupation of continuing to obstruct the entry of humanitarian and relief aid into the Gaza Strip, and said that it did not abide by the provisions of the humanitarian protocol within the ceasefire agreement.He stressed that the most prominent obstacles imposed by the occupation are the failure to abide by the entry of caravans and tents, the agreed-upon number of trucks, and the quantities of fuel needed for the humanitarian sectors in Gaza, explaining that according to the humanitarian protocol, it was agreed that 200,000 temporary tents would be brought into the Gaza Strip to accommodate the displaced and families whose homes and housing units were destroyed by the occupation during the aggression on the Gaza Strip.The quantities may be sufficient to complete the shelter process until the reconstruction process begins.