Storm floods about 70,000 tents in Gaza, local authorities say

As of 8:55 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

The first winter storm of the season flooded about 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Gaza's government media office said. The United Nations says the rain has killed several people and that stocks of tents and blankets inside the territory are "virtually exhausted."

The Hamas-run media office said Saturday that at least 70,000 tents had flooded in the previous 12 hours, Reuters reported. At the time, the office said people had been injured but no deaths had been reported. It estimated initial losses at about $3 million and blamed Israel for keeping crossings closed and blocking shelter materials, according to Al Jazeera.

UN reports deaths and damage

In a situation report posted Nov. 9, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said heavy rain and strong winds hit Gaza from the evening of Nov. 6 through the weekend. OCHA said five displaced people, including three children and two women, were killed when a sand dune collapsed onto tents west of Deir al-Balah, citing Gaza's Civil Defense. It said an infant reportedly drowned at a displacement site.

According to OCHA, aid groups had received appeals from more than 26,000 households whose shelters or belongings were damaged, and the overall impact is believed to be greater. The UN agency cited the Site Management Cluster, a group of aid partners, as reporting more than 6,000 family shelters destroyed and 17,400 damaged. OCHA said the figures are preliminary.

OCHA said about 1.4 million people, an estimated 65% of Gaza's population, live in tents or makeshift shelters. It said Civil Defense received 2,166 distress calls and that water reached 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) in some locations.

Supplies stuck outside

More than 150,000 tents bought by aid groups and governments are waiting outside Gaza, about 117,000 of them from the Egyptian Relief Committee in Al-Arish, OCHA said. The agency said Israeli approvals and more funding are urgently needed to bring in supplies and machinery such as vacuum trucks and dewatering pumps.

Municipal and civil defense officials told Reuters they could not cope with the storm because of fuel shortages and damaged equipment. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, did not immediately comment on Hamas' accusations, Reuters reported. In a statement on Friday, COGAT said it had stepped up efforts to improve sanitary conditions across Gaza before the expected rain. It said four more vacuum trucks entered Gaza this week through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"This is the first day of rain, and of course we are already flooded," Gaza resident Olfat Magdoub told Reuters.