The night of drowning over the camps of displaced people in Gaza was not just a passing weather change, but a new chapter in a tragedy that repeats itself every winter, deepening this year with Israel’s forced displacement of hundreds of thousands and their accommodation in dilapidated tents that cannot withstand the wind or rain:

The dawn scene: rain pouring into Gaza’s tents

In the hours before dawn, while silence hung over the camp like an exhausting blanket, the sky began to cry out. Heavy rain suddenly poured down, as if the clouds had decided to empty all their anger at once.

It didn’t take long for the water to find its way into the tents. It didn’t just splash against the roofs… it penetrated them.

Um Muhammad, trying to lift a waterlogged blanket, told the Canary

I woke up to find my children sleeping in a pool of water… my heart ached. We just need a tent to shelter us.

In another tent, Abu Alaa was trying to remove the water that had not stopped flowing with a plastic container:

We shouted, we pleaded… but no one heard us. The tent gives way at the first drop of rain.

Amidst the cries, children were jumping in the mud, some shivering from the cold and others from fear. Seven-year-old Hala wrapped her coat around her thin body:

The water was coming in like a river… I was afraid the tent would collapse on us.

Camps turned into pools… and contaminated water flooded everyone

In the early hours of the morning, rain flooded many of Gaza’s displacement camps, mixing with sewage that had spilled out due to dilapidated infrastructure. The tents were transformed into a dangerous environment, flooded with contaminated water that increased the suffering of the residents.

The dirt floors inside the tents turned to mud, and the small feet of children sank into it with every step.

“We can’t stay here a minute longer” said Abu Mahmoud, carrying a wet broom:

The rain came in from everywhere… We went outside and didn’t know where to go.

Even the houses that residents tried to repair did not hold up. Rain seeped through cracked roofs and walls covered with nylon sheets, flooding what remained of the furniture.

Umm Ahmad recalls the details of her harsh night:

I woke up to the sound of water pouring into the house… Everything was flooded: the mattresses, the clothes… Even the food was ruined.

The scarcity and high prices of tarpaulins… and a new battle with winter

In the morning, the displaced people set out in search of new tarpaulins to repair their tents before nightfall, but they were faced with a harsh reality: a sharp rise in prices and a severe shortage due to a months-long ban on their entry into the sector:

Many were forced to evacuate their tents after they were completely flooded, leaving their children in the muddy streets of Gaza, their small bodies shivering from the cold.

Across the camp, the scene was the same: men running to secure tents, women trying to salvage what was left of their bedding, and two older people sitting helplessly after their blankets were flooded.

The cries mingled with the sound of the rain:

The tent is flooded!

Where are we going to go?!

The children are cold!

That night revealed not only the weakness of the tents, but also the fragility of life itself, and the extent of the wound that continues to bleed despite the ceasefire.

Unanswered questions… and winter knocking on the doors of fear in Gaza

Amidst all this, the biggest question remains: how will the children spend the coming winter nights in tents that cannot withstand the first wave of rain?

In Gaza, winter is not feared because it is cold, but because it lays bare everything that cannot be said and reveals the depth of pain that the displaced have been carrying for many months.

Despite all this pain, in every tent there remains a small whisper of resistance, spoken in a low voice:

We will remain standing… even if it is in the mud.

Featured image and additional images supplied

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.