Ammon News - The death toll from the collapse of a steep sand cliff onto tents sheltering displaced people in Ard El-Rebat displacement camp in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip rose to five, including a woman and three children, while five other civilians were injured on Sunday evening.

Rescue teams as saying that they initially recovered the body of a woman from beneath the collapsed sand, followed by four more victims, including three children. Five injured people were also pulled alive from the site, while search operations for the missing continued.

The incident comes amid worsening hardships faced by displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as heavy rainfall and a low-pressure weather system battering the Strip have flooded tents and damaged shelter centers, prompting repeated appeals for urgent intervention and the provision of safe shelter and winter supplies.

National and international institutions have warned that more than 2,000 damaged, cracked, and structurally unsound buildings are at risk of collapse, particularly amid continued rainfall and strong winds, threatening the lives of Palestinians forced to live in damaged buildings or in their vicinity.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Saturday of the risks facing displaced families living in flood-prone areas and in buildings damaged by heavy rainfall. It also pointed to insufficient relief stocks and called for the immediate entry of winter supplies and additional funding for the humanitarian response.


WAFA