Rise in Deaths from Low Pressure in Gaza to 25, Including 6 Children

The Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that the number of Palestinians who died due to low-pressure systems since the beginning of December has risen to 25 people, including 6 children who died from the severe cold.

This came in a statement issued by Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basil, highlighting the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in the sector due to the low-pressure systems.

Basil said in the statement: "The repercussions of the low-pressure systems have resulted in the death of 25 citizens, including 6 children who died as a result of the severe cold, while the others died due to building collapses and falls into wells and rainwater collection pools."

The Gaza Strip had not witnessed low-pressure systems accompanied by heavy rain, strong winds, and severe cold before this December.

Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Health stated that the number of children who died from the severe cold since this December has risen to 3, as the ministry counts the bodies that arrived at its hospitals, while the Civil Defense counts what reached the hospitals and what did not.

Basil reported the complete collapse of 18 residential buildings damaged by previous Israeli bombing due to the effects of the low-pressure systems and rains in the same period.

More than 110 residential buildings suffered "dangerous" partial collapses, posing a direct threat to the lives of thousands of Palestinians living in them or around them, according to Basil.

Palestinians are forced to live in cracked and dilapidated buildings due to the lack of options amid Israel's destruction of most buildings in the sector, and its prevention of the entry of mobile homes, construction materials, and reconstruction, shirking its obligations stipulated in the ceasefire agreement.

In a related context, Basil said that 90 percent of the displaced people's tents flew away and sank due to the heavy rains and strong winds, in various areas of the sector.

He pointed out that thousands of Palestinian families lost their temporary shelter and their meager belongings, such as "clothes, blankets, and bedding," which exacerbated their humanitarian suffering.

Basil renewed the urgent call to the international community for "immediate and serious action to aid the Palestinians and provide urgent humanitarian needs, before the catastrophe worsens further."

He demanded the "immediate" start of the reconstruction process and the provision of safe housing that preserves the dignity of the Palestinian human being and protects their life.

For the third day, the Gaza Strip is affected by a low-pressure system accompanied by heavy rain and strong winds, resulting in the flooding and scattering of thousands of displaced people's tents, according to Basil.

Basil warned of more casualties due to the continuation of the low-pressure system, amid harsh humanitarian conditions faced by the displaced inside fragile tents and destroyed homes.

Despite the end of the genocide with the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement on October 10, 2025, the living conditions have not seen significant improvement due to Israel's evasion of fulfilling its obligations stipulated in the agreement, including the entry of the agreed quantities of food, relief, and medical materials, and mobile homes.

On October 8, 2023, Israel began a genocide in Gaza that lasted two years, leaving more than 71,000 Palestinian dead and over 171,000 injured, and massive destruction that affected 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at about 70 billion dollars.