Gaza Storm Floods About 70,000 Tents in 12 Hours, Local Officials Say

Emergency crews in Gaza fielded about 1,500 distress calls as heavy rain soaked displacement camps, with municipal and civil defense officials telling Reuters that fuel shortages and damaged equipment left them unable to cope.

The Hamas-run Government Media Office said about 70,000 tents flooded within 12 hours. Reuters and Al Jazeera reported the office’s estimate; it is not an independently verified count.

Rain and strong winds hit the territory from late Friday, Nov. 6, into Saturday, Nov. 7. Al Jazeera reported flooding in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah, including coastal shelters in al-Mawasi. Its reporting described the weather as the season’s first winter storm, without identifying a storm name.

Families Face Another Shelter Emergency

Families tried to reinforce tents with sand and carry children away from standing water, Reuters reported. Mattresses and blankets were soaked, leaving residents struggling to find somewhere dry to sleep.

“This is the first day of rain, and of course we are already flooded,” Gaza resident Olfat Magdoub told Reuters.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Al Jazeera that several shelter centers had flooded completely. His agency said water rose by 30–40 centimeters at some shelter sites.

The flooding follows earlier winter rains that inundated Gaza’s tent camps, exposing the continued vulnerability of makeshift shelters.

Local Authorities Seek Hundreds of Thousands of Tents

Gaza’s emergency committee said the territory urgently needed about 200,000 tents and heating supplies, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday. On Sunday, the outlet reported that Gaza Civil Defense was calling for at least 300,000 tents.

These are separate appeals from local authorities, not a single UN-confirmed assessment of a need for 200,000–300,000 tents or caravans.

Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF’s representative in Palestine, told the BBC that Israeli restrictions on heavy machinery and supplies such as engine oil were worsening conditions. He also pointed to UN budget cuts that had reduced the availability of tents, tarpaulins and plastic sheeting.

Mohammed Salha, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, told Al Jazeera that 50,000 tents were waiting on the Egyptian side of the border. Aid groups cited by the outlet blamed Israeli restrictions on shelter materials; municipal and civil defense officials separately cited fuel shortages and damaged machinery.

The risks extend beyond flooding. Previous storms have brought down war-damaged structures and exposed families to extreme cold.

Israel Points to Sanitation Measures

The Government Media Office held Israel “fully responsible,” citing restrictions on shelter and reconstruction materials. That is the office’s accusation, not an independently established finding.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency coordinating aid, did not immediately comment on Hamas’s accusations, Reuters reported. In a statement issued Friday, however, it said it had stepped up sanitation preparations with international organizations ahead of the rain.

The agency said four additional vacuum trucks had entered Gaza through the International Committee of the Red Cross that week, joining eight delivered over the previous month to support sewage pumping, waste removal and infrastructure repairs.

Israel has said it restricts items that could serve military purposes, according to the BBC. Veitch warned that urgent action was needed to protect families as winter approached.