A car crossing a puddle in the al-Saftawi neighborhood, west of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 10, 2025. (Credit: Bachar Taleb/AFP)
BEIRUT — As feared, the torrential rains brought by the arrival of Storm Byron in the region have wreaked havoc in the devastated Gaza Strip, leading to the death of an infant less than a year old.
As the cold spread overnight due to high humidity, a nine-month-old girl named Rahaf Abou Jazar died in front of her parents in a tent in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
The baby's mother, interviewed by local Al Jazeera correspondents, explained that she had done her best to protect her daughter.
"I panicked all night because the cold kept getting worse. Then, suddenly, I found my little baby motionless, dead," she said.
"It was raining, it was very cold, and I had very little to keep her warm. I fed her and put her to bed. I bundled her up as best I could, but it wasn't enough."
In previous reports, the Health Ministry estimated that at least 138 children have died of malnutrition in Gaza since the start of the war, due to famine caused by the Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid.
'More than 22,000 tents completely destroyed'
The intense rainfall has flooded "tens of thousands of tents" across the enclave, leaving areas submerged in mud and water, said Gaza government media office director Ismail al-Thawabta in a statement.
"More than 22,000 tents have been completely destroyed, including tarps, insulation materials, and blankets. Emergency shelters have collapsed, temporary water supply networks have broken and mixed with rainwater," he explained.
He added that the population "urgently needs 300,000 new tents, but only 20,000 have been delivered," while Israel continues to block the entry of essential humanitarian aid trucks into the enclave.
Additionally, three buildings in Gaza City collapsed due to strong winds and heavy rain, with no reported casualties, according to videos shared by several local media outlets.
The Palestinian Civil Defense said that it had carried out several interventions to try to assist families trapped in flooded tents, while urging people not to shelter in buildings at risk of collapse.
According to the relief agency, more than one and a half million displaced Palestinians now live "in dire humanitarian conditions in camps in Gaza," as over 90 percent of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced since the start of the Israeli offensive in October 2023.
"Displaced people have lost the bare minimum needed for survival and are left without protection from the cold, wind, and rain," Thawabta added.
This situation has sparked outrage from the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, who said she was appalled that "the nightmare continues" in Gaza.
"Palestinians are left to fend for themselves and suffer hunger in the middle of the storm," which is expected to continue to batter Gaza until Friday, according to weather forecasts.
Four people killed in 24 hours
The bad weather has not stopped the Israeli army from continuing deadly attacks across the enclave. At least four people have been killed and ten others wounded in the past 24 hours, according to the local Health Ministry's daily report.
An airstrike Thursday morning killed a woman in Jabalia, in the north, according to rescuers quoted by Al Jazeera. On Wednesday evening, two men succumbed to their wounds Thursday morning after being targeted by Israeli soldiers near a traffic circle close to the al-Mawassi humanitarian zone, between the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, where tens of thousands of forcibly displaced people are concentrated.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army acknowledged in a statement Wednesday evening that it had shot dead a Palestinian who "crossed the Yellow Line," marking the area occupied by troops in the besieged enclave under the cease-fire plan.
According to the Gaza government media office, Israel has violated the cease-fire more than 700 times since it went into effect on Oct. 10, killing at least 379 Palestinians during that period in strikes or gunfire.
In total, the Israeli offensive against Gaza has killed at least 70,373 people and injured 171,079 others since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Ministry, with fears of thousands of missing persons remained trapped under the rubble.
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