Gaza Floods Submerge 70,000 Tents and Destroy Sewage Networks

Gaza Floods Submerge 70,000 Tents and Destroy Sewage Networks

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Torrential rains and deep weather depressions have submerged tens of thousands of temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip, compounding years of wartime infrastructure destruction as displaced families brace for winter.

The flooding has destroyed or flooded at least 70,000 tents. In some displacement camps, water levels reached nearly 1.5 meters.

The severe weather triggered a fatal landslide in central Gaza. A rocky sandbank near a displacement camp south of Deir al-Balah washed away late Sunday, killing two women and three children aged eight, six, and four.

Witnesses described the collapse as sounding like an explosion. “We found that three tents were covered completely after the mountain collapsed on top of them,” Sohaib Abu Darbali told Dawn.

Infrastructure Collapse and Aid Restrictions

Local authorities attribute the scale of the disaster to the destruction of stormwater and sewage networks during the war that began in October 2023. More than 700km of Gaza’s sewage network has been destroyed.

Husni Muhanna, a spokesman for Gaza City municipality, told Al Jazeera that municipal crews have lost about 85 percent of their fleet of vehicles and heavy equipment.

“The municipality lost about 85 percent of its fleet of vehicles and heavy equipment during the war, after the Israeli occupation destroyed more than 135 vehicles, mechanisms, and equipment, leaving it with only 15 percent of the total previous fleet.”

As reported by Al Jazeera, the Civil Defence in Gaza answered only 218 out of upwards of 2,000 emergency calls received in the first 12 hours following the storm, hindered by broken equipment and a lack of fuel. Meanwhile, Save the Children asserted that these deaths could have been prevented had Israeli authorities allowed the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid, including adequate shelter materials and equipment.

Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe at Save the Children International, pointed out that the children’s deaths were not caused by the rainfall. “They were killed by man-made conditions created by the Israeli authorities, forcing families to live in unsafe, inadequate shelters with nowhere else to go,” Alhendawi said.

Gaza Floods Submerge 70,000 Tents and Destroy Sewage Networks
Photo: Dawn

Global Leaders Urge Increased Humanitarian Assistance to Gaza

Globally, leaders have responded to the deteriorating conditions. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explore all possible avenues to urgently increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza, according to Dawn.

The Board of Peace called the situation an immediate humanitarian emergency, urging the Israeli government to facilitate the entry of essential winterization supplies. While the Israeli military claimed it had allowed over 8,200 trucks to enter the Gaza Strip with supplies including 91,000 tents, the Board of Peace called them insufficient.

The besieged enclave requires generators, 300 to 500 pieces of heavy machinery like excavators and bulldozers, and between 1,000 and 1,500 water pumps. Border checkpoints continue to block the arrival of mobile homes that were scheduled for delivery under the October 2025 ceasefire accord.

Mohammed Abboud, the acting head of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, cautioned that similar catastrophes will likely happen again as the rainy season persists, provided that aid deliveries into the blockaded territory stay heavily curtailed.

More on Gaza Strip

Floods destroy tens of thousands of tents across Gaza for second day — Roya News English
Gaza Floods: 70,000 Displacement Tents Submerged as Storm Leaves Palestinians Battling for Survival — India Today Global
Heavy rain floods Gaza tents and collapses buildings as misery deepens — Al Jazeera English
Gaza Storm Floods 70,000 Tents, Embankment Collapse Kills Children — Global60s

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