The High Commission for Tribal Affairs in Gaza warned on Wednesday of a dangerous humanitarian catastrophe threatening tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians after heavy rainfall flooded their fragile tents, turning shelter areas into mud swamps and water pools.

In an emergency statement, the commission described the scenes emerging from the displacement camps as a “stain on humanity,” stressing that children and the elderly are now facing the risk of death by drowning or hypothermia due to the absence of proper shelter materials and lifesaving supplies.

The commission held the Israeli occupation and the international community “fully and directly responsible” for the deteriorating situation, citing the continued blockade and the lack of adequate humanitarian aid entering the Strip.

It pointed out that the disaster is a direct result of forced displacement into overcrowded zones, combined with the occupation’s prevention of weather-resistant shelters and vital sewage-drainage equipment, turning the current winter storm into what it called “a new genocide added to the burdens of aggression.”

Disease spreading rapidly

The statement also warned that the mixing of wastewater with rain inside the camps has triggered a rapid spread of disease, particularly among children. This includes acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, dehydration, and skin illnesses, amid the collapse of Gaza’s health system and severe shortages of medicines and vaccines.

The commission emphasized that the images of displaced families sleeping on freezing floodwaters after losing the last of their blankets and basic relief items are “unbearable and unacceptable.”

The High Commission issued an urgent appeal to the United Nations, UNRWA, and international humanitarian organizations to immediately declare an emergency shelter response, open safe corridors for relief convoys, and deliver large quantities of waterproof tents and mobile housing units capable of protecting families from the freezing weather.

It stressed the need for rapid medical and logistical support, including water-pumping equipment, fuel, winter blankets, and essential medicines, while also calling for a halt to the aggression and the full opening of border crossings to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach the displaced without restrictions.

Rain floods Gaza camps

A wave of severe weather has deepened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as heavy rains and strong winds have flooded displacement tents and hospital corridors across the besieged territory.

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip reported that dozens of tents sheltering displaced families were inundated by floodwaters, forcing families to evacuate and placing hundreds of thousands at further risk. The makeshift tents, he noted, are ill-equipped to withstand the current weather conditions, raising alarm over a potential new disaster layered atop the ongoing genocide and Israeli blockade.

The flooding also impacted already-struggling medical facilities. In Khan Younis, operating rooms and hospital corridors were overtaken by rainwater, hampering emergency care efforts. Our correspondent further noted a recent spike in injuries caused by leftover Israeli munitions, particularly among children navigating the rubble-strewn terrain.

German study estimates Gaza death toll surpasses 100,000

A new analysis by a leading German demographic institute suggests that the true number of Palestinians killed in "Israel’s" war on the Gaza Strip may be far higher than previously documented.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research now estimate that more than 100,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began more than two years ago, according to reporting by Die Zeit.

Project co-lead Irena Chen said, “We will never know the exact number of dead. We are only trying to estimate as accurately as possible what a realistic order of magnitude might be.” The team found that the number of those killed could fall anywhere between 99,997 and 125,915, with a midpoint calculation of 112,069 deaths over the first two years of fighting, far higher than the previously accepted toll.

The researchers drew data from multiple sources, including Gaza’s Ministry of Health, independent household surveys, and recorded death reports circulating on social media. Until now, the Health Ministry’s figure of 67,173 deaths had been the only official tally.