Five killed as rain-weakened sandbank collapses onto tents in Gaza's Deir al-Balah

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Five people were killed on Sunday evening when a rain-weakened sandbank collapsed onto tents sheltering displaced families in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, the first deaths in the winter storm that swept into the territory late on Friday. Gaza's Civil Defence and local health authorities confirmed the deaths after rescue teams reached the site.

The collapse happened as the storm's rain softened the ground around the encampment, bringing an earthen embankment down onto the tents. Al Jazeera reported four children among the five dead; other outlets, citing the same rescue service, reported three children and a woman. The victims' names had not been published while families were being informed.

The deaths change the picture from a day earlier, when the flooding itself was first reported. The season's first storm flooded about 70,000 tents within roughly twelve hours and drew at least 1,500 emergency calls, with water rising 30 to 40 centimetres at several shelter sites, but no fatalities had been reported at that point. The Gaza Government Media Office put the initial damage at about $3 million, and Gaza's Civil Defence said at least 300,000 tents are needed and more than 2,000 buildings are at risk of collapse.

The five deaths are confirmed by the rescue service and local health authorities, and the scale of the flooding is reported consistently: the Government Media Office's figure of 70,000 tents was carried by Al Jazeera, Reuters and the BBC, and the Civil Defence count of more than 1,500 emergency calls comes from its own spokesman. Accounts differ on how many of the dead were children, and the $3 million damage figure comes from the Government Media Office alone.

The storm hit a population already living almost entirely under canvas: nearly 400,000 displaced Palestinians are sheltering in locations considered highly vulnerable to further flooding, and more than 900,000 are in the al-Mawasi coastal zone alone. A United Nations assessment dated November 5 estimated Gaza needed about 121,000 tents and 1.7 million mattresses as of November 1, before this storm, and Save the Children said tents, shelter kits and fuel are waiting at Gaza's borders because Israeli authorities are blocking their entry.

What happens next depends on whether shelter supplies can get in. Save the Children said tents, shelter kits and fuel are waiting at Gaza's borders, and UNICEF's special representative said most people are living in terrible conditions. Until those supplies move, the families whose tents flooded have little to replace them with, and Civil Defence's count of destroyed shelters will show how many are left without one.