Heavy rain floods thousands of tents for displaced families in Gaza

Floodwater reaches the tent camps

Heavy rain swept into the Gaza Strip early on Saturday, 7 November 2026, and by morning thousands of tents in the displacement camps stood in water. Gaza's civil defence agency said its crews received about 1,500 distress calls in just 10 hours, and water levels at several shelter sites rose by 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 inches). Civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Al Jazeera that a few shelter centres had been completely flooded and that everyone inside had been pushed out into the open. Footage from camps in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah showed residents moving through ankle-deep water, with mattresses soaked and children barefoot in mud and sewage. Basal put the scale of the flooding plainly:

“What we feared has actually happened”

Those most at risk

Basal said premature babies, older people and the sick are the most exposed, and warned of the constant danger facing people in tents:

“Those living in tents are at risk of death at any moment, and of illness at any moment”

Al Jazeera reported that more than 900,000 displaced people are sheltering in al-Mawasi, the coastal area of southern Gaza, where rain had been falling since 10pm on Friday, 6 November. The same reporting said more than 125,000 families living along the coast risk having their tents swept away by the sea, and that more than 28,000 widows are facing the winter alone with their children. Gaza's emergency committee said more than one million displaced people face the dangers of winter.

Damaged buildings and reported injuries

The storm also brought down buildings already damaged by Israel's war, which began in October 2023. Civil defence said rescuers evacuated residents of a partly collapsed building in central Nuseirat. In northern Gaza, the wall of a separate damaged building fell under the heavy rain and injured two people, according to Wafa. Observador, citing the civil defence, reported a three-storey building near the Ahli Club in Nuseirat's central refugee camp partly collapsed without injuries, and that a young man in the north was rescued after a roof fell on him. Wafa and Observador differ on casualties in the north.

Shelters and winter risk

Wafa estimates that about 270,000 shelters house displaced people, and that more than 400,000 people live in highly vulnerable areas, either exposed to flooding or close to the coast. Rai reported that over the last three winters several people, many of them infants, have died from the cold. Gaza's emergency committee says the territory urgently needs about 200,000 tents along with heating supplies.

Shelters housing displaced people, about (Wafa estimate)270,000

Tents urgently needed (Gaza emergency committee)200,000

Shelters housing displaced people, about (Wafa estimate)

270000 tents

Tents urgently needed (Gaza emergency committee)

200000 tents

Data from the article text

Observador, citing data from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said 1.65 million residents face a fourth winter in deteriorated tents and damaged buildings, with Israeli restrictions and a funding shortfall adding to the strain.

Ceasefire talks stall

La Repubblica reported that the US-mediated ceasefire from last year provides for reconstruction but has seen little progress, because negotiators have not agreed on Hamas disarmament or on the withdrawal of Israeli troops, who control about two-thirds of the territory. Observador reported that daily Israeli attacks have continued one year after the start of the alleged ceasefire. The two outlets count the winters differently: La Repubblica called this the third consecutive winter since the offensive, while Observador called it the fourth winter of war. Nesma al-Sallaq, the NRC's shelter coordinator in Gaza, wrote in an October report that a winter in a tent is more a nightmare than a season.