Three children killed as heavy rains batter displaced families in Gaza – UNICEF

NEW YORK, 9 November 2026 – Three children aged four, five and eight were killed along with their mother over the weekend when a sand dune collapsed onto their tent in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, after heavy rainfall.

The heavy rains directly affected more than 106,000 people, damaging or destroying shelters, latrines, and belongings. An estimated 950,000 displaced people live in flood-exposed areas, including 400,000, almost half of whom are children, in locations at extremely high risk.

“These children and their mother were killed because they had nowhere safe to sleep. That is the reality in Gaza today,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Families are living without the most basic conditions for their safety, health and dignity. More children could die without proper shelter, working water and sanitation systems, and the equipment needed to restore essential services. The worst of winter is yet to come.”

The deaths happened as families, exhausted by war and the protracted crisis, prepare to face a fourth winter under very dire conditions. Some 1.7 million displaced people are still living in tents, makeshift shelters, or damaged buildings exposed to flooding, cold and collapse.

The flooding caused by the heavy rains is compounding a sanitation crisis created by the war.  No wastewater treatment plant in Gaza is currently operational. In Gaza City, rainwater mixed with sewage is threatening to overflow from the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin, where only two of six pumps still work. UNICEF has been seeking approval from Israeli authorities for more than a year to bring in the equipment needed to repair the facility.

Meanwhile, the cold is another deadly threat, particularly for newborns. Last winter, 11 children were reported to have died of hypothermia. Without adequate protection, the worsening conditions pose a real risk that more children could die as winter takes hold.

UNICEF and partners are distributing tarpaulins, winter clothing, blankets, and hygiene supplies, clearing blocked sewers and stormwater basins, and installing sandbags at sites to mitigate the impact of flooding.  In the past week alone, UNICEF reached at least 10,000 children with winter clothing and thermal blankets, distributed tarpaulins to families whose tents have flooded, and cleared sewage and stormwater at more than 50 locations.

The emergency response is vital but is not a long-term solution. Tents and tarpaulins offer little protection against severe storms, and damaged water and sanitation systems continue to put children’s health and lives at risk.

UNICEF urgently calls on the Israeli authorities to allow the immediate entry of pumps, generators, spare parts and other materials needed to repair water and sanitation infrastructure, including the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin and the Sheikh Ejleen Wastewater Treatment Plant.

UNICEF urges the international community to join the call for the entry of all life-saving humanitarian supplies and equipment, and to provide urgent funding for UNICEF’s US$97.5 million winter response in Gaza.

####