DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza struggled to recover Tuesday from torrential rains that battered the enclave for days, flooding camps for the displaced, collapsing buildings already badly damaged in the two-year war and leaving at least 12 dead, including a two-week-old baby.
The downpour, which dumped more than 150 milliliters (9 inches) of rain on some parts of Gaza over the past week, turned dirt lanes to mud and flooded tents in camps for displaced people.
The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said Tuesday the two-week-old died of hypothermia as a result of the weather. The baby was brought to the hospital a few days ago and was transferred to intensive care but died on Monday.
In Gaza City, a man died Tuesday after a home already damaged during Israeli strikes, collapsed because of the heavy rainfall, according to Shifa Hospital.
Members of the al-Hosari family said 30 people lived in the building, but just nine were home when it collapsed. The man who was killed was a worker who had come to fix the walls, they said. Five people were injured.
The Health Ministry said the remaining 10 people were killed last week, also from buildings collapsing from the rain and heavy winds.
People stay in ruins, damaged buildings despite dangers
Emergency workers warned people not to stay in damaged buildings because they could collapse at any moment. But so much of the territory reduced to rubble, there are few places to escape the rain.
In July, the United Nations Satellite Center estimated that almost 80% of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.
“When we hear the news that there is a storm, our whole lives change, we start thinking about where to stay, to go, where to put our mattresses and blankets, and where to keep our children safe and warm,” said Mohammed Gharableh, a father displaced from the southern city of Rafah.
“During every storm like this, water penetrates our tents, and our mattresses and blankets get soaked,” he added.
In Israel, areas near Gaza received between 60 mm to 160 mm (2 to 6 inches) of rain in the past week, according to the Israel Meteorological Service, which in some cases is more than twice the average amount of rain for this time of year.
More shelters and tents desperately needed, aid groups say
According to aid groups, despite two months of a ceasefire, not enough shelter material has been getting into Gaza to help Palestinians deal with the coming winter.
Recently released Israeli military figures suggest it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million people have been displaced, and most people live in vast tent camps stretching along the coast, or set up among the shells of damaged buildings. The buildings lack adequate flooding infrastructure and people use cesspits dug near tents as toilets.
The Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, called COGAT, said close to 270,000 tents and tarps have entered Gaza over the past few months as well as winter items, shelter equipment, and sanitation supplies.
But some aid groups disputed the figures and said more supplies, especially winter items, are desperately needed.
Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, last week said it has tracked just 68,000 tents that have entered Gaza via the U.N., non-governmental organizations, and various countries. Many of the tents aren’t properly insulated for winter, it says.
During a U.N. Security Council meeting on Tuesday, officials said that the U.N. is distributing tents, blankets, and other winter supplies but that the risk of hypothermia is increasing with the onset of winter weather.
Charges dropped against soldier who took archaeologist to Lebanon
In a separate development, the Israeli military said Tuesday it closed an investigation into a soldier who allowed an Israeli archaeologist, a civilian, to accompany troops into southern Lebanon to a historic fortress in November last year.
The visit came before the U.S. and France-brokered ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group came into effect and at a time when the Israeli military was operating in areas of southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Zeev Erlich, 70, a well-known archaeologist and settler leader in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was killed in a Hezbollah ambush along with an Israeli soldier. Erlich was not on active or reserve duty, but had entered Lebanon with Israeli troops while armed and wearing a military uniform.
The Israeli military said it would investigate how a civilian was allowed to enter Lebanon, and initially recommended charging the infantry commander who brought Ehrlich, Yoav Yarom, with reckless homicide.
On Tuesday, the military attorney general announced that the military had instead decided to close the investigation without criminal charges but recommended internal action within the military.
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Lidman reported from Jerusalem.