In Gaza’s ruins, winter storms become a fight for survival

Winter has arrived in Gaza not as a change of season, but as a new and deadly phase of suffering. As heavy rains and freezing winds sweep across the Strip, thousands of displaced Palestinians are facing conditions that turn survival into a daily struggle. For women already living through genocide, repeated displacement and profound loss, the winter storms are pushing life from barely bearable to actively life-threatening.

After months of bombardment, much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. Homes, schools and hospitals have been destroyed, entire neighbourhoods erased. Most families have been forced to flee multiple times, often under fire, carrying little more than the clothes they were wearing. When they fled, it was summer. Few imagined they would still be displaced as winter set in, sleeping in tents, makeshift shelters or the open air.

In Deir al-Balah, Baraa, a woman displaced from Beit Lahia, explains how winter has exposed the fragility of their situation. “I would like to talk about my suffering during the winter,” she says. “Right now, we’re living in a tent, but it doesn’t belong to us; it belongs to my uncle, and the tent is in a bad situation.”

With no access to proper shelter materials, Baraa and her family have been forced to sacrifice the little they have. “We’ve been using our blankets, which we cover ourselves with, to fix the tent,” she says. “We also lack winter clothes.” Each rainfall worsens the damage, letting cold water pour through the fabric and pooling on the ground where they sleep.

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Baraa is also grieving. “My father is a martyr; he passed away,” she says. “There’s no one to rebuild the tent for us, so I’ve been using our blankets which we cover ourselves with to plug the holes in the tent.” 

The same blankets meant to keep her warm at night are now the only barrier between her family and the rain. Like so many women in Gaza, Baraa fled believing the displacement would be temporary. 

photo credit Action Aid Partners

“We were displaced from Gaza and didn’t bring winter clothes with us because it was summer, and we didn’t have time to pack,” she explains. “We thought it would only be a few days and we’d return to our homes, but it’s been a long time, and the house, our clothes, everything has been bulldozed.” She ends simply: “Here, the situation is extremely difficult.”

In the Al-Sawarha area, Halima Othman Saleh tells a similar story of loss and exposure. “My house was destroyed by a missile strike,” she says. Now displaced with nothing to shield her from the cold, she adds: “I am currently displaced and have no shelter or blankets. We need aid.” As winter storms intensify, the absence of even basic protection has become dangerous.

Nearby, Taghreed Obeid, originally from Jdeed camp and now also displaced in Al-Sawarha, describes what winter means for her children. “I am a mother of eight children,” she says. “We are displaced in a worn-out tent. There are no tarpaulins. The rain comes in during the winter, and we have no blankets, mattresses, or pillows.” When the rain falls, the tent floods, and her children sleep cold, wet and exposed.

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Across central Gaza, women recount the same scenes: tents collapsing under the weight of rain, children shivering through the night on soaked bedding, families huddling together to preserve warmth. With no fuel and no safe heating options, some parents burn scraps of plastic or debris just to keep the cold at bay, filling the air with toxic smoke. Damp conditions and overcrowding have led to a rise in illness, while access to medical care remains extremely limited.

Humanitarian organisations warn that the winter storms are compounding an already catastrophic situation created by genocide, siege and the near-total collapse of civilian infrastructure. Aid is entering Gaza in only small quantities, far below what is needed. Shelter materials, winter clothing and fuel are critically scarce.

Jamil Sawalmeh, Country Director of ActionAid Palestine, has warned that winter could prove fatal without immediate action. He said: “Palestinians in Gaza have been deprived of protection and assistance for far too long. Humanitarian access rooted in dignity and rights means recognising that needs are never neutral, women, men, boys, and people with disabilities experience crisis differently, and aid must reflect that.

“But today, families are facing a second catastrophe: the winter storms. Children are sleeping in flooded tents, parents are burning scraps of plastic to stay warm, and entire communities are being washed into the mud. Our partners and staff are watching their shelters collapse in the rain, no one in Gaza is safe from this storm. No one can survive a winter like this without proper shelter.

“Let me be clear: without an immediate flow of shelter materials into Gaza, this winter will become a death sentence for thousands. Palestinian NGOs and civil society organisations, especially women and youth, are central to ensuring aid reaches those who need it most.”

Local partner organisations, many of them women- and youth-led, are working at community level to respond. They are trying to distribute blankets, plastic sheeting and hot meals, but they say needs are overwhelming and supplies are painfully limited. 

Humanitarian access experts point to ongoing restrictions, insecurity and destruction that continue to block aid from reaching those most at risk.

For women like Baraa, Halima and Taghreed, winter is not simply about cold weather. It is another layer of suffering imposed on lives already shattered by violence, displacement and loss. As storms flood tents and freezing nights stretch on, their testimonies reveal a stark truth: without urgent, meaningful humanitarian access, winter in Gaza will claim lives long after the bombs fall silent.

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