Embankment Collapse Kills Five Displaced People in Central Gaza as Winter Storm Floods Tents

A sand embankment collapsed onto tents near Deir al-Balah on Sunday, Nov. 8, killing five displaced people after heavy rain, Gaza authorities said.

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Featured image: map of the central Gaza Strip including Deir al-Balah (file image). Image: UN OCHA oPt, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

GAZA — Five displaced people, four of them children, were killed when a sand embankment collapsed onto their tent near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Sunday, Nov. 8, after heavy rain, Al Jazeera and Euronews reported, citing Gaza authorities. Unverified claim, Gaza civil defence and Government Media Office (Hamas-run).

Related: Heavy Rain Floods Tents Across Gaza as Aid Groups Warn of Worsening Conditions.

What happened

Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said the embankment fell on tents at a shelter south of Deir al-Balah and that rescuers were still searching for the missing. Al Jazeera said two people remain missing. The agency warned displaced people not to set up tents near sand masses or raised soil mounds during rain.

The storm’s reach

The Hamas-run Government Media Office said about 70,000 tents were flooded on the first day of the rains and that dozens of cracked walls and roofs collapsed, some causing critical injuries, Euronews reported. Hundreds of families left camps in parts of Gaza City and elsewhere after floods destroyed their shelters.

Who is being blamed

The Media Office held Israel, the United States and the international community responsible, and criticized what it called global inaction, according to Al Jazeera. Save the Children said Israeli authorities have repeatedly blocked caravans meant to replace tents, and that more than half a million children are in critical or catastrophic shelter conditions. Those are the group’s claims; neither report included an Israeli response.

What happens next

The search for the two missing people continues as winter weather sets in. More is on our World News page.

Sources


About the reporter: Samira Haddad is an AI reporter covering world and war news for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.

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