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Displaced Palestinians after heavy rains in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City on December 11, 2025. <\/span>Omar Al-Qattaa\/AFP\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published by\u00a0<\/em>Inside Climate News<\/a> and is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n Every day when <\/span>Rajaa Musleh wakes up and checks her phone, she fears she will see news that another member of her family has been killed in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Musleh, a nurse and humanitarian worker who evacuated from Gaza to Cairo last year, works at the charity organization Human Concern International delivering food, medicine and other essential aid. Her 75-year-old mother and other family members are still in Gaza, where they face constant dangers: bombing, disease, starvation, medication shortages, and environmental devastation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that I am divided into two parts,\u201d Musleh said. \u201cMy body is here in Cairo and my soul inside Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli forces have killed\u00a0more than 70,000<\/a>\u00a0Palestinians over the past two years and two months, according to official estimates. The United Nations\u00a0estimates<\/a>\u00a0that 90 percent of Gaza\u2019s population is displaced and that\u00a01.5 million<\/a>\u00a0people are in urgent need of shelter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the past two years, the UN and global medical and human rights authorities have continuously sounded the alarm on famine and forced starvation in Gaza, widespread environmental destruction, near-constant bombardment and violations of international law,\u00a0deeming<\/a>\u00a0Israel\u2019s assault a\u00a0genocide<\/a>. Israel has destroyed Gaza\u2019s water, sewage, and hospital infrastructure and, the UN said,\u00a0continues to restrict<\/a>\u00a0the entrance of food, tents, warm clothes, and life-saving medical supplies, leaving millions without basic necessities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, as multiple reports show Israel violating the latest ceasefire, winter rains are flooding thousands of tents in Gaza amid plummeting temperatures. Escalating environmental destruction, from the impact of chemical weapons to heavily polluted water, make the scale of humanitarian devastation even more apocalyptic.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they announced the ceasefire, it\u2019s just [a] lie. They attack every day, bombing the people in their tents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThis war, I call it a climate war,\u201d Musleh said. \u201cIt has created catastrophe, an environmental health crisis\u2026and I think this will affect Gaza for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n The unusually heavy rains, strong winds, and floods Storm Byron brought to Israel and Gaza this week are making conditions for displaced families\u00a0even more dire<\/a>. One baby in Gaza\u00a0died<\/a>\u00a0overnight last week in a cold and flooded tent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe storm is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis amid the destruction of infrastructure and a lack of resources,\u201d Gaza City Mayor Yahya Al-Sarraj\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Al Jazeera.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,\u00a0nearly 850,000 people in Gaza<\/a>\u00a0are sheltering in 761 displacement sites particularly vulnerable to flooding expected from the storm.<\/p>\n Israeli officials have said they expect to see unprecedented rainfall and warned residents to stay inside and\u00a0watch<\/a>\u00a0for signs of hypothermia.<\/p>\n Thousands of children in Gaza are\u00a0experiencing acute malnutrition<\/a>, while lacking shelter, sanitation, and warm clothing. Flooding rains and lack of access to safe water for drinking and even basic hygiene interventions like handwashing accelerate the rapid spread of disease. Cold weather also increases the body\u2019s energy needs, putting malnourished children with insufficient reserves of fat and muscle at severe risk of hypothermia, according to the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund.<\/p>\n Doctors Without Borders\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that diseases linked to poor living conditions, including skin, eye, respiratory, and gastrointestinal diseases, make up 70 percent of outpatient consultations in the organization\u2019s health care clinics in southern Gaza. As winter rains mix with sewage, winter exacerbates the spread of disease.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout immediate improvements to water, sanitation, shelter and nutrition, more people will die from entirely preventable causes,\u201d the organization\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in a statement denouncing bloodshed after Israeli strikes on November 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an emailed statement, the Israel Defense Forces said allegations of genocide are \u201cnot only unfounded but also ignore Hamas\u2019 violations of international law.\u201d The IDF denied claims it is limiting the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe IDF remains committed to conducting its operations in accordance with international law,\u201d the statement read, contending that Hamas is not fulfilling its part of the ceasefire agreement, including by killing three Israeli soldiers and not returning all hostages by the deadline. \u201cThe IDF is acting in response to threats, violations, and terror infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n The BBC\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0on November 11 that Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, and Al Jazeera\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that Israeli forces have killed at least 360 Palestinians and injured more than 900 over the same period. The UN Children\u2019s Fund\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0on November 21 that at least 67 children had been killed in Gaza since October 10, an average of almost two children slain per day.<\/p>\n Hamas has\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0returned all but one deceased hostage, whose body has not yet been found. Hamas officials\u00a0have said<\/a>\u00a0they have had difficulty locating the bodies of hostages under rubble following Israeli strikes. The UN\u00a0adopted a resolution<\/a>\u00a0this month calling on Israel to comply with international law by ending its \u201cunlawful\u201d occupation in Palestine.<\/p>\n The US government continues to funnel billions of dollars to Israel. US and Israeli officials\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0expect the second phase of the US-brokered Gaza peace plan to begin as soon as this month, while Hamas officials are\u00a0calling for international pressure<\/a>\u00a0on Israel to first fully implement the terms of the plan\u2019s initial phase, including ceasing attacks and ending the aid blockade.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hala Sabbah, co-founder of The Sameer Project\u2014a mutual-aid organization supplying emergency shelter, food and medical aid in Gaza\u2014is based in London and coordinates donations to colleagues on the ground bringing tents and warm clothes to displaced Gazans. The Sameer Project\u2019s doctors are treating displaced patients with severe injuries and chronic diseases, doing so without basic medical supplies and while also living in hazardous conditions themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnless borders open really, really, really soon, we\u2019re just basically seeing a slow genocide where people are dying because of the lack of infrastructure and the lack of aid coming in,\u201d Sabbah said. \u201cIf this lasts even longer, that means more and more and more deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sameer Project is named after Sabbah\u2019s uncle, who she said was killed in an Israeli bombing in 2024. The group is led by Gazans and members of the Palestinian diaspora, like Sabbah. The organization has about 100 team members on the ground, she said, but the scale of need far exceeds their capacity. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing, really, is a drop in the ocean,\u201d Sabbah said. \u201cIt\u2019s really, really frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n Lena Dajani, who coordinates The Sameer Project\u2019s medical aid work while based in California, described the impact of the rain on displaced families living in makeshift shelters. \u201cThey\u2019re drowning in their tents,\u201d Dajani said. \u201cThere\u2019s no drainage\u2026There are just rivers of dirty water now, raw sewage, chemicals flooding into tents and destroying the very little that anyone owns.\u201d<\/p>\n The flooding with contaminated water is exacerbating gastrointestinal diseases, infections, and chronic coughs, and elevating hypothermia risks, which were already\u00a0deadly<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThis winter is going to be catastrophic,\u201d Dajani said.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the latest<\/span> ceasefire went into effect on October 10, The Sameer Project saw a drop in donations, Sabbah said, but the dire circumstances on the ground have remained largely unchanged.<\/p>\n In late October, a Sameer Project staffer was killed along with 17 relatives in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building they were staying in, Dajani said.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Musleh, with Human Concern International, evacuated Gaza last year after spending 50 days trapped in Al-Shifa Hospital, where she worked as a nurse. Musleh is traumatized by the scenes of carnage she saw at Al-Shifa. When she evacuated in March 2024 she only planned to stay in Cairo for a month before returning to continue her work in Gaza, but she has not been able to get back in. She now coordinates aid to Gaza, including food, warm clothes and hygiene and medical supplies.\u00a0<\/p>\n But aid is severely restricted. International human rights organizations and aid workers have criticized Israel for keeping healthy food, medical supplies and other essentials out of Gaza. This fall, Musleh said that Israeli authorities removed dates\u2014high in nutrition desperately needed by malnourished children and adults\u2014from Human Concern International\u2019s food aid packages before letting them through.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no electricity, no fans, no ACs, no cold water, no safe places.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Musleh\u2019s mother, who is still in Gaza, suffers from kidney disease, but Musleh\u2019s attempts to send her basic medication have been blocked, she said. She pays $2,000 each month to secure her mother a place in a two-bedroom apartment where 20 people are currently living, just to keep her out of the rain and floods. But there\u2019s nowhere safe from violence, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they announced the ceasefire, it\u2019s just [a] lie,\u201d Musleh said. \u201cThey attack every day, bombing the people in their tents.\u201d<\/p>\n Even before October 2023, 97 percent of Gaza\u2019s groundwater was already considered unfit for human consumption, due to a depleted coastal aquifer, over-extraction, nitrate pollution from sewage disposal, saltwater intrusion and the flushing of agricultural fertilizer,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to the UN Environment Programme. Palestinians have long lacked sufficient water access, and in 2012, the UN\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0that the Gaza Strip could be unlivable by 2020 if no action was taken to secure clean drinking water as well as energy and sanitation access.<\/p>\n Gaza has been under Israeli\u00a0blockade<\/a>\u00a0for nearly two decades, with Israeli authorities significantly restricting residents\u2019 freedom of movement, employment, and ability to access imported goods including food, medical supplies, and fuel. Israel has also\u00a0restricted and undermined water access<\/a>\u00a0in Gaza for decades, including by restricting fuel used to operate desalination plants, overexploiting the coastal aquifer, and\u00a0deliberately targeting<\/a>\u00a0and destroying water and sewage infrastructure, according to water and human rights organizations.<\/p>\n Today, none of Gaza\u2019s wastewater treatment plants are operational,\u00a0according to the UN<\/a>, and just a fraction of the aid needed to sustain its population is allowed through the blockade.\u00a0<\/p>\n Climate change is making the crisis even more acute, aid workers said. The rain came late and heavy this year, Musleh said, following scorching summer heat. <\/p>\n Palestine is in a region particularly vulnerable to climate change, and climate models predict increased temperature highs and lows, as well as exacerbated droughts and floods. Palestine is already seeing significant sea-level rise, which scientists have projected will cause coastal flooding and erosion and continued saltwater intrusion in groundwater aquifers.\u00a0<\/p>\n In August, Gazan journalist Bisan Owda\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0the impact of brutal heat over 104 degrees. \u201cThere is no electricity, no fans, no ACs, no cold water, no safe places\u2026because of climate issues and because of the intense bombings,\u201d Owda said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Groups like The Sameer Project are delivering truckloads of water, but once again, the need is far greater than their capacity. \u201cFamilies have gotten used to drinking brackish water,\u201d Dajani said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of problems with kidneys because they can\u2019t identify the taste anymore of the salt water.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Dajani added that her colleagues are seeing kidney inflammation, hepatitis, jaundice, and Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome, a rare and potentially life-threatening condition that can result in paralysis and breathing problems and most commonly follows a viral infection.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a briefing published on November 27, Amnesty International\u00a0detailed<\/a>\u00a0the extent of the ongoing human rights crisis. \u201cThe ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal,\u201d said Agn\u00e8s Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, in a statement. \u201cThe world must not be fooled. Israel\u2019s genocide is not over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGaza\u2019s aquifer is contaminated, farmland has been decimated, and sewage seeps into the soil.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Amidst staggering immediate needs, aid workers are seeing widespread trauma and medical complications that will impact Gaza\u2019s population for generations to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dajani described a child named\u00a0Ahmed Al Homs<\/a>, who was hit with tear gas last year, and suffered asphyxiation and brain damage. Now, he is paralyzed, Dajani said. The Sameer Project has been providing care and medications for Al Homs, who lives in the Refaat Alareer Camp, an emergency medical aid site the organization operates in central Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Doctors are also seeing severe birth complications likely tied to continuous exposure to highly toxic air and water, Dajani and Musleh both said. In a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from September, the UN Environment Programme found that 78 percent of Gaza\u2019s buildings have been destroyed, generating about 67 million tons of debris, including rubble that could contain high-risk contaminants like asbestos, industrial waste and heavy metals that Gazans living among the rubble are exposed to.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s going to be a whole generation\u2026that are not the proper size for their age, they\u2019re not meeting cognitive milestones,\u201d Dajani said. \u201cAn entire generation is going to be affected by this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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