GAZA CITY — As the first heavy rains of the season swept through Gaza City, thousands of displaced residents faced renewed hardship inside makeshift tents, struggling to keep water from flooding their fragile shelters.
Standing barefoot in the mud, Niven Abu Zreina tirelessly swept away rainwater from her tent, her clothes and hijab drenched. “I’ve been sweeping since morning,” she said. “The rain soaked our clothes and mattress. The scene speaks for itself.” Nearby, another family member worked with her, both trying to keep the water out with limited tools.
According to Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defense agency, Friday’s rainfall inundated thousands of tents across the city. “Since dawn, we’ve received hundreds of appeals from displaced families whose tents and makeshift homes have been flooded,” he said, noting that even before the rain, there were not enough shelters for everyone affected by the war.
The Gaza Strip, wedged between desert regions and the Mediterranean Sea, experiences most of its rainfall in late autumn and winter. But with ongoing Israeli restrictions on goods and humanitarian aid, residents have had to rely on simple tents that offer little protection from the weather.
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