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Strong winter gusts caused walls to collapse upon fragile shelters sheltering people uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four individuals. This tragedy underscores the dangerous situation that continue after more than two years of devastating airstrikes and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Provides Little Relief from Harsh Weather

While a truce has been active since October, humanitarian organizations state that residents do not have the adequate shelter required to withstand frequent cold-weather events.

Officials at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, reported on Tuesday that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a young female, and a man.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"International actors has allowed us to experience loss of life in every possible way," stated Bassel Hamouda following the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three people of a single household — 72-year-old a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were killed when an eight-metre tall wall collapsed onto their dwelling in a area near the sea of the city. No fewer than five others were hurt in the event.

Their relatives on that day began clearing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the temporary homes for survivors.

Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as food and hygiene supplies across Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians live in improvised tents since their homes were reduced to ruins over the course of the hostilities. Aid groups contend an insufficient amount of building supplies are entering Gaza during the truce.

Fatality Numbers After the Truce

Local health authorities, part of the administration, says more than 440 individuals have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their remains taken to hospitals since the truce began. The authority keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as largely accurate by international bodies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that no fewer than one hundred minors below eighteen years old – 60 males and 40 girls – had been killed after the truce started due to armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, artillery fire and use of bullets. These numbers, he said, reflected cases where sufficient information had been compiled to justify documentation, but the overall count is believed to be higher. He noted that many hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and shootings have slowed' under the truce, they have not ceased," Elder informed reporters at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the international community now calls calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.

Third Winter of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of more than 2 million people has been struggling to fend off the cold weather and storms away while enduring shortages of assistance and a absence of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly required throughout the winter months. It’s the 3rd winter after the conflict involving the state and the group started on a date in late 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and killed around twelve hundred people and took hostage 251 others into Gaza.

The local health authority says over 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.