Winter Storms Hamper Gaza Rescue Efforts — Authorities Say Thousands Still Buried Under Rubble

Authorities in Gaza warned that ongoing winter storms are increasing the risk that war-damaged buildings will collapse and making it much harder to recover bodies trapped beneath the rubble.

Rescue Efforts Strained by Weather and Equipment Shortages

The alert came on Monday, three days after two buildings collapsed during heavy rains, killing at least 12 people and flooding or washing away tents sheltering displaced Palestinians. Civil Defence teams, despite shortages of equipment and fuel and difficult weather conditions, recovered 20 bodies on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

Those bodies were recovered from a multistorey building struck in December 2023 where roughly 60 people — including about 30 children — were believed to have been sheltering.

Calls For More Durable Shelter

Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal urged the international community to provide mobile homes and caravans rather than tents. "If people are not protected today, we will witness more victims, more killing of people, children, women, entire families inside these buildings," he said.

"They are saying that they are still in need, initially, for 40 excavators and bulldozers in order to achieve some slight progress in the whole process on the ground," Al Jazeera's Tareq Abou Azzoum reported from Gaza City.

Personal Tragedy Highlights Human Cost

One survivor, Mohammad Nassar, described returning from a short trip to buy essentials to find his six-storey building — already badly damaged earlier in the conflict — collapsed in heavy rain. "I saw my son’s hand sticking out from under the ground. It was the scene that affected me the most," he said. His 15-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter were among the dead.

UN Warns Of Growing Humanitarian Crisis

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that heavy rain and cold from Storm Byron have left people "freezing to death" and that waterlogged ruins are collapsing, increasing exposure to the elements. He added that UNRWA has supplies that have been waiting for months to enter Gaza and that these stocks could help hundreds of thousands of people if permitted in.

UN and Palestinian officials say roughly 300,000 new tents are urgently needed for about 1.5 million people who remain displaced; most existing shelters are worn out or made of thin plastic and cloth sheeting.

Large-Scale Recovery Needs

Gaza authorities say they continue to dig to recover an estimated 9,000 bodies believed to be buried under rubble from strikes during the war, but the lack of heavy machinery is slowing the effort. Civil Defence teams have requested an initial surge of about 40 excavators and bulldozers to speed recovery work. Local officials and reporters say Israel’s ban on the entry of heavy machinery into the Gaza Strip is impeding those efforts and violating the terms of the ceasefire, according to Gaza sources.

Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, Gaza authorities report continued daily strikes amounting to nearly 800 attacks and almost 400 deaths; humanitarian groups say the flow of aid into the enclave remains severely constrained. Hamas warned that ongoing violations risk jeopardising the ceasefire and progress toward a negotiated next stage of talks tied to a U.S. peace proposal.

The immediate needs are clear: heavy equipment to recover the dead and clear rubble, durable shelter to replace flimsy tents, and rapid, expanded humanitarian access to prevent further deaths from exposure and to support thousands of displaced families.