The season's first major winter storm flooded tent camps across the Gaza Strip on Friday night and Saturday. Hamas-run authorities said at least 70,000 tents housing displaced residents were flooded.
The Hamas-run government media office said the tents flooded within 12 hours and that several people were injured, with no deaths reported. The Hamas-run civil defense agency said that three abandoned houses collapsed without causing injuries.
In Gaza City, residents tried to patch tents, banked sand around them and moved children out of waterlogged shelters. "This is only the first day and we're already overwhelmed," Olfat Magdoub told Reuters, saying her bedding had been soaked in a previous rainstorm two weeks earlier.
Hamas officials blamed Israel for the conditions, saying construction materials and shelters have not been allowed into Gaza. Mustafa Qazzaat, a member of the Hamas-run Gaza City council, told AFP that the territory needs 200,000 prefabricated homes along with heavy machinery, electricity and heating.
COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body that coordinates aid to Gaza, did not immediately respond to the accusations. On Friday, ahead of the forecast rain, it said it had stepped up efforts to improve sanitation in coordination with international organizations. COGAT said four more vacuum trucks entered Gaza this week through the International Committee of the Red Cross, in addition to eight that arrived in the previous month. The trucks are used to pump sewage, remove waste and repair water and sewage infrastructure.
Israel has said reconstruction cannot begin until Hamas disarms and gives up control of the territory. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached last year calls for Gaza's eventual rebuilding, but negotiators have yet to agree on terms for Hamas's disarmament or an Israeli withdrawal. Israeli forces currently control roughly two-thirds of the Strip.
The storm also hit Israel. Binyamina received about 50 millimeters of rain in an hour on Saturday morning, causing flooding. Residents in and around Gan Yavne were left without power for most of the day after the electrical grid was damaged. Police briefly closed Route 90 near the Dead Sea, and the Health Ministry warned against swimming off the Mediterranean coast because of possible sewage runoff.
The rain was expected to ease overnight Saturday, with light, scattered showers forecast for the coming week.
