The key facts

  • Gaza media office: 70,000 tents flooded in 12 hours of storm, preliminary damage estimated at about $3 million
  • The Arab Joint List (12 seats in the Knesset) said this is already the fourth winter that hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents have lived in tents
  • Four people were injured when walls of buildings damaged by strikes collapsed, according to medical sources cited by Anadolu

Storm floods tens of thousands of tents

Gaza's media office reported on Saturday, that within 12 hours after the storm began, 70,000 tents housing displaced Palestinians were flooded, and dozens of walls damaged by strikes collapsed. The office estimated the preliminary direct damage from the storm at about $3 million. The Anadolu agency, citing medical sources, reported four people injured when two walls collapsed in buildings previously damaged by strikes, in the north and center of the enclave.

Statement by the Arab faction in the Knesset

The Arab Joint List, which holds 12 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, issued a statement on Saturday warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis due to the rains and flooding. In the faction's assessment, the storm with heavy rains received extensive coverage in the media and on social networks, yet Gaza was almost never mentioned in that coverage, and the flooding there did not make the headlines. The Joint List emphasized that this is the fourth winter in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to survive in tents that are flooded by rain each time, leaving residents without shelter. The authors of the statement warned that mothers, infants, and entire families are left without protection from the cold and rain in already dire conditions, and concluded with the words: 'Do not look away. Look at Gaza.'

Context

The storm came amid a continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation following the war that began in October 2023 and caused large-scale destruction of housing and infrastructure. Although a ceasefire has been in effect since October 10, 2025, shelter and reconstruction needs, according to Anadolu, still far exceed the volumes of aid available amid ongoing violations and restrictions on bringing goods and equipment into the enclave. The figures on the number of flooded tents and the damage come from Gaza's media office; no independent verification is provided in the report.