A sandbank collapsed onto a tent in Deir el-Balah on Sunday, killing four children and a woman. Two people remain missing. Heavy rains from the first winter storm of the year hit Gaza on Friday, causing widespread flooding across displacement camps.
The Gaza Government Media Office said the deaths reflect "complicity and abandonment" and held Israel, the United States and the international community "fully and directly responsible." The statement cited Israeli restrictions on specialist search and rescue equipment and blocked entry of caravans, shelter supplies, and construction materials. Gaza residents used bare hands to dig for survivors.
About 70,000 tents were flooded when the storm hit. Save the Children said more than half a million children live in "critical or catastrophic" shelter conditions and noted that Israeli authorities have repeatedly blocked entry of caravans stipulated in a ceasefire announced over a year ago.