UN Says 55,000 Families Affected by Rain and Storm in Gaza

Flooding in the Gaza Strip. (Twitter/@UNLazzarini)

JAKARTA - The United Nations announced that around 55,000 Palestinian families have been affected by recent rains and storms in the Gaza Strip, with their property and homes damaged.

This statement was made by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, during a press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York, United States on Wednesday local time.

"The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that around 55,000 families across Gaza have been affected so far by the recent rains, while their property and homes have been damaged or destroyed by the storm," Haq explained, quoted from WAFA (18/12).

Furthermore, he noted that the storm and rain also damaged dozens of children's friendly places in Gaza, disrupting child protection activities and affecting around 30,000 children throughout the Gaza Strip.

Haq also warned that Israel's continued restrictions continue to hinder the efforts of humanitarian aid organizations to expand their operations more quickly in the Gaza Strip.

Heavy rains that have hit Gaza in recent days have worsened the already dire living conditions in the area devastated by the Israeli bombardment, causing emergency tents to be flooded.

Meanwhile, medical sources reported that the number of deaths in Gaza hospitals due to the storm and extreme cold weather had risen to 13.