The key facts

  • In Khan Younis, sites sheltering more than 650 families were assessed, including 160 families in a low-lying area where rain and wastewater may accumulate.
  • One site is located on the edge of a cliff above five low-lying ones; the UN fears ground collapse under tents in winter.
  • Winter shelter supplies cover less than a fifth of the nearly 300,000 families in need.

UN warning about winter risks

The UN warned on Tuesday that displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip may face serious risks of flooding and collapses as winter approaches, and that aid efforts are hampered by funding shortfalls and restrictions on supplies.

Assessed sites in Khan Younis

Citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a briefing that sites sheltering more than 650 families in Khan Younis had been assessed, including 160 families located in a low-lying area where rainwater used to collect and which is now at risk of being flooded by rain and wastewater. On Monday, the UN and its partners also assessed five other low-lying sites in Khan Younis where about 750 people are located. A sixth site, where a number of families are sheltered, sits on the edge of a cliff above these five sites; the UN fears that soil erosion in winter could lead to ground collapse under the tents.

Limited aid

Across Gaza, partners are carrying out drainage clearing, sandbagging and ground leveling, but, according to Dujarric, these efforts are constrained by funding shortfalls and restrictions on the entry of a number of critically important materials. Shelter partners reported that available supplies are sufficient only to partially support less than a fifth of the nearly 300,000 families in need of winter shelter assistance.

Conflict context

Anadolu characterizes the war in Gaza, launched by Israel in October 2023 with US support, as 'genocidal,' and cites figures of more than 74,000 killed and over 175,000 wounded, as well as the destruction of 90% of civilian infrastructure. According to the agency, despite the ceasefire regime in effect since October 10, 2025, Israel continued shelling, gunfire and demolition of Palestinian buildings. These formulations and figures belong to the Anadolu source.