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Storm Byron Batters Gaza, Leaving At Least 13 Dead and Tens of Thousands of Tents Wrecked

UN agencies warn that flood‑prone camps, rising disease risks, restricted aid access are turning a weather crisis into a wider emergency.

Overview

  • Rescue services and hospital morgues report at least 13 storm-related deaths since Thursday, including infants who died of hypothermia.
  • Gaza authorities say more than 27,000 displacement tents were flooded, destroyed or blown away and emergency teams recorded about 4,300 calls for help.
  • OCHA estimates roughly 850,000 people are sheltering in 761 sites highly vulnerable to flooding as broken sewage and drainage systems leave camps waterlogged.
  • UNRWA says it has shelter supplies for over one million people positioned outside Gaza but remains barred from bringing them in, calling the refusal a political decision.
  • Aid groups report shortfalls in winterized shelter, pumps and heavy machinery and say the 600‑trucks‑per‑day target is not being met, a claim Israel disputes, while WHO warns of rising respiratory and diarrhoeal illnesses and severe medicine shortages.