Children’s Lives At Risk As Gaza Shelters Flood
By Sarah Ferguson
November 13, 2026
Torrential rains in the Gaza Strip are deepening the suffering of displaced families living in fragile tents that offer little protection from the elements. UNICEF is providing urgently needed emergency support for children caught in a protracted humanitarian crisis.
Children in Gaza face dire conditions as winter closes in
Heavy rainfall is damaging and destroying shelters, latrines and belongings in the Gaza Strip, flooding tens of thousands of tents and displacing Palestinians who were already living in dire circumstances.
During the first weekend in November, three children aged 4, 5 and 8 were killed along with their mother when a sand dune collapsed onto their tent in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, after pouring rains.
Nowhere safe to sleep in Gaza
The deaths happened as families, exhausted by war and the protracted crisis, face a fourth winter in cold, damp, overcrowded conditions. Some 1.7 million displaced people are still living in tents, makeshift shelters or damaged buildings exposed to flooding and collapse.
“These children and their mother were killed because they had nowhere safe to sleep. That is the reality in Gaza today.”
— UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell
“These children and their mother were killed because they had nowhere safe to sleep. That is the reality in Gaza today,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Families are living without the most basic conditions for their safety, health and dignity. More children could die without proper shelter, working water and sanitation systems, and the equipment needed to restore essential services. The worst of winter is yet to come.”
UNICEF is clearing away sewage and stormwater, and distributing tarps, blankets and warm winter clothing for children
Rainwater flooded the tent where 7-year-old Samar and her family live in a displacement camp in Nuseirat, central Gaza. “My clothes and bedding are soaked, and I don’t know where to sit or where to sleep,” Samar said. “The rain was so heavy, and the tents cannot withstand it.”
“My clothes and bedding are soaked, and I don't know where to sit or where to sleep.”
— Samar, 7
The heavy rains have directly affected more than 106,000 people in Gaza. An estimated 950,000 displaced people live in flood-exposed areas, including 400,000, almost half of whom are children, in locations at extremely high risk.
In the first week of November alone, UNICEF reached at least 10,000 children with warm clothing and thermal blankets, distributed tarpaulins to families whose tents have flooded, and cleared sewage and stormwater at more than 50 locations.
Between October 2026 and March 2027, UNICEF’s winterization plan will reach 540,000 children in Gaza and the West Bank.
UNICEF support bolsters families’ coping mechanisms
The winter storms are the latest hardship for Palestinian children and their families. Despite an agreed ceasefire, children continue to be killed or seriously injured in air strikes, drone strikes and gunfire. An estimated 60,000 children in Gaza have seen either one or both of their parents killed during the war or since the ceasefire. Virtually every child requires some form of mental health support to recover.
“More than 2 million people, half of whom are children, are living in horrific conditions and the biggest challenge is the immense needs,” UNICEF spokesperson Toby Fricker told ABC News.
“Literally everyone is in some form of need,” Fricker continued. “And what we are doing is we’re trying to get even the basics to families whose tents have been destroyed or damaged, and that’s like plastic sheeting, tarpaulins, just anything to help bolster their coping mechanism a little bit.”
Fuel and equipment shortages hamper rescue and recovery efforts
UNICEF’s emergency response is vital coupled with a long-term solution. Tents and tarpaulins offer little protection against severe storms, and damaged water and sanitation systems continue to put children’s health and lives at risk.
Lack of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) jeopardizes children’s health, safety and well-being. Waterborne diseases like cholera spread quickly; children under age 5 are particularly vulnerable. According to a new UNICEF report on the devastating impacts of attacks on WASH services in conflict zones, more than 80 miles of sewage pipeline in Gaza have been damaged since October 2023, with untreated sewage being discharged into the Mediterranean Sea or to temporary holding areas.
Fuel and equipment shortages are hampering rescue efforts. UNICEF urgently calls on the Israeli authorities to allow the immediate entry of pumps, generators, spare parts and other materials needed to repair water and sanitation infrastructure, including the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin and the Sheikh Ejleen Wastewater Treatment Plant. At Sheikh Radwan pond in Gaza City, rainwater mixed with sewage risks overflowing, with only two of six pumps still working.
Children in Gaza need support and protection now
UNICEF urges the international community to join the call for the entry of all lifesaving humanitarian supplies and equipment, and to provide urgent funding for UNICEF’s $97.5 million winter response in Gaza.
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