The heavy rains that have been hitting the Gaza Strip since Saturday caused a sand cliff to collapse on tents for displaced people in Deir al-Balah, killing 5 people, including 3 children, according to the Civil Defense, which continues to search for missing persons. The government media office reported that about 70,000 tents housing tens of thousands of displaced people had been flooded, amid warnings of the dangers of the continued depression and the worsening suffering of residents who lost their shelter as a result of the war.
Published on: 09/11/2026 - 02:02
The Civil Defense Service in the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday the killing of 5 people, including 3 children, and the injury of others after a sand cliff collapsed on tents for displaced people in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Strip, as a result of heavy rains that began on Saturday.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said that the collapse occurred in a center to shelter the displaced, south of Deir al-Balah, as a result of the depression hitting the Strip, noting that rescue teams are continuing to search for missing people under the rubble.
A video clip circulating on social media showed dozens of people at the accident site, some of them trying to lift a large stone slab, while others used shovels to dig under it.
The Civil Defense warned residents and displaced people against setting up tents or staying near sand cliffs and high dirt masses, especially during rainfall, because of the danger it poses to their lives.
The Hamas-run Government Information Office announced on Saturday that about 70,000 tents housing tens of thousands of displaced people had been flooded on the first day of the depression that struck the Gaza Strip.
The office indicated that dozens of walls and cracked ceilings collapsed in different areas of the Strip, causing injuries, some of them serious.
Since dawn on Saturday, hundreds of displaced families have been forced to flee camps in Gaza City and the central and northern Gaza Strip, after they were flooded with rainwater.
In this context, Gaza Municipal Council member and Emergency Committee official Mustafa Qazaat said that Israel has not allowed the entry of ready-made homes to shelter the displaced since the start of the ceasefire, and its approval has been limited to the entry of limited numbers of tents.
The Gaza Strip has witnessed a ceasefire since October 10, 2025, two years after the war that broke out following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Despite the ceasefire agreement reached with Egyptian, Qatari and American mediation, the Israeli army continues to launch air strikes and carry out ground military operations on an almost daily basis.
France 24/AFP
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