In brief
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that floods from Friday’s downpours destroyed shelters and exposed the fragility of humanitarian supplies in Gaza. Cairnsind, about 70,000 tents were flooded, and humanitarian stock of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and clothes is nearly exhausted. The UN is urging immediate funding and the removal of Israeli restrictions to allow the delivery of emergency equipment and supplies.
Heavy rains that began on Friday evening in Gaza intensified floods that reached their climax on Sunday, turning several established displacement camps into swamps and collapsing the fragile shelters that many displaced households have built, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday. The deluge washed away 70,000 tents, according to a report from Action for Humanity, and a number of those shelters were torn from their foundations as a sandy hill collapsed onto the tents of three children and two women, who were killed in the incident.
An infant tragically drowned in the flooding, and the OCHA said that airstrikes continue to hit populated areas, causing additional casualties. Humanitarian partners mobilised immediately to assess people’s needs and deliver emergency supplies – water, tarps and blankets – but OCHA warned that the stock of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and clothes inside Gaza is now virtually exhausted. “Our teams are working with far too little equipment and too few shelter materials for the scale of the need,” the office said.
In the midst of the flood response, OCHA officials highlighted the toll of long‑standing restrictions by Israeli authorities. 150,000 tents had been purchased by partner organisations and United Nations member states and were awaiting dispatch to Gaza, the office noted. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, told a briefing in Ramallah that while rain is natural, the vulnerability of the population is man-made. He blamed hostilities that destroyed homes and cut off essential infrastructure, and the tight Israeli limits that have made it difficult to prepare for floods or move relief out to flood‑prone shorelines. “I call for the urgent lifting of all unnecessary restrictions and delays, including those preventing humanitarian organisations from bringing sufficient supplies into Gaza,” he said.
OCHA stressed the necessity of enhanced funding and the removal of bureaucratic hurdles so that enough supplies and heavy equipment—vacuum trucks, mobile dewatering pumps, hoses, engine oil and other heavy machinery—can be flown into Gaza. The UN role is to coordinate the mobilisation of these items, but the situation remains one in which “humanitarian funding and Israeli approvals are urgently needed so that enough supplies and machinery can be brought into Gaza.”
Storm‑Damaged Infrastructure and the Human Cost
The flooding has not only displaced thousands of families but also damaged humanitarian facilities and essential services. Shelters, many built from durable materials in previous operations, have been rendered ineffective; many people now live in worn‑out tents that cannot withstand even moderate weather. The OCHA said that the collapse of a sandy hill onto the tents of three children and two women points to the inadequate engineering and lack of protective measures in the camps.
In addition to the immediate threat of drowning and structural collapse, the floods have compromised water supplies and drainage infrastructure, potentially exacerbating the risk of water‑borne disease in an already crowded setting. Although OCHA and its partners have pumped water, improved drainage, reinforced displacement sites with sandbags and repaired shelters where possible, the sheer number of affected families far outpaces the available equipment and workforce.
Airstrikes continued to hit populated areas throughout the weekend, adding further casualties and forcing people to evacuate or shelter in the most vulnerable locations. The ongoing violence, combined with the natural disaster, has magnified the existing humanitarian crisis, according to the UN representatives in Gaza.
OCHA’s assessment indicates that the current material and equipment shortfall is such that the response cannot keep pace with the scale of need. The UN says that the continued receipt of stockpiled tents—already many of them destroyed or ruined by the floods—must be expedited, and that additional funding must be available to maintain the procurement and delivery of essential supplies.
Over the next few days, OCHA and partners will continue to monitor the situation, but key variables remain uncertain. The amount of additional funding that will be secured, the speed with which Israeli restrictions will be lifted, and the extent to which airstrikes may continue to disrupt relief operations are all unresolved. These uncertainties will shape the trajectory of the humanitarian effort in the coming weeks.