JAKARTA - Little as 235,000 residents of the Gaza Strip, Palestine, are affected by a "man-made" crisis exacerbated by a low-pressure weather system that hit the war-torn region, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday.
"Months of war and displacement have forced people in Gaza to live amid collapsed ruins in makeshift shelters or in flimsy tents," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on social media, launching Daily Sabah and Anadolu (29/12).
"Although the Hurricane Byron that hit Gaza on December 10 was a natural disaster, the consequences are man-made," Lazzarini said.
Heavy rain and strong winds triggered by a low-pressure weather system caused the collapse of 17 buildings and partial or total damage to more than 42,000 tents or temporary shelters, and affected at least 235,000 people between December 10 and 17, said Lazzarini, citing data from the Shelter Cluster in Gaza.
A new wave of weather depression has hit Gaza since the weekend, causing the death of two people and the removal of tens of thousands of tents, according to the civil defense.
The weather conditions pose a major danger for Palestinian refugees living in dilapidated tents or severely damaged high-risk buildings, which have repeatedly been the target of Israeli attacks since October 2023.
Although the ceasefire came into effect in Gaza on October 10, Israel still closed the borders of the region and prevented the entry of mobile homes and reconstruction materials, exacerbating the suffering of nearly 2.4 million people in the enclave.
Quoted from WAFA, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli genocide war in October 2023 has reached 71,266, the majority of whom are women and children, with another 171,222 injured.
Since the ceasefire agreement on October 11, 2025, a total of 414 casualties and 1,145 injured have been recorded, and 680 bodies have been found.
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