Gazans desperate to create shelter from rubble in 'miserable' conditions

The UN has urged Israel to allow 150,000 tents into flood-hit Gaza.

Israel maintains Hamas has been stealing aid and using it for its own purposes.

The flooding is the result of the first heavy rains of what will be a long and wet winter.

Palestinians in Gaza are desperately trying to find new ways to prop up flimsy tents and shelters ahead of the long and wet winter, pulling material out of destroyed buildings to reinforce tarpaulins and sheeting.

Last weekend, the first heavy rains of the season hit the war-ravaged strip, flooding the sprawling tent camps where hundreds of thousands of people live.

A woman and three children were killed by a collapsing sand bank, according to local health authorities.

The United Nations said more than 40,000 tents had been damaged, leaving more than 200,000 people without safe and dry accommodation.

In many instances, floodwaters had mixed with sewage, with much of Gaza's infrastructure destroyed during the war, fuelling concerns of fresh outbreaks of diseases in the overcrowded ramshackle communities.

Sharif Abu Shaar, 45, was among the Palestinians sourcing material like reinforcement bars from damaged buildings in Khan Younis, in an attempt to strengthen existing shelters against storms.

"We lived in miserable conditions, with water, wind and rain. It was a catastrophe," he told the ABC.

"When we heard that metal could be salvaged from the rubble of destroyed buildings, we started rebuilding with it.

"Unfortunately, the sheets have holes, allowing rain to seep inside. We still need to repair them."

Samah Abu Shaar, 40, said the heavy rains were "devastating" for the tent camp where she lives in the Al Mawasi area, closer to the Mediterranean Sea.

"Water gets into the mattresses and it is frightening. The little ones started crying," she told the ABC.

"My daughter tells me that water fell on her while she was sleeping, soaking her clothes, the mattresses and the duvet."

The situation has enlivened an intense debate between humanitarian agencies, the Israeli government and the US-backed Board of Peace as to who is responsible for the crisis.

Gaza is about to enter its fourth winter since the war began and its second since President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire had been imposed.

Since the ceasefire came into force in October 2025, local health authorities said more than 1,600 Palestinians had been killed and more than 5,800 injured as a result of ongoing Israeli strikes.

Many of them are civilians, including women and children.

On Monday, the Board of Peace labelled the situation "an immediate humanitarian emergency", and chastised Israeli authorities and Hamas for having "impeded progress" in improving the situation for civilians living amongst the rubble.

"We have specifically urged the Israeli government to authorise the entry of essential materials for temporary shelter, water and sanitation infrastructure, waste management, drainage and sewage material," it said in a statement.

"At the same time, we have repeatedly pressed Hamas to agree to lay down its arms, relinquish governing authority, and fulfil its obligations."

It said the steps being taken by Israeli authorities to fix the situation and prepare for the depths of winter, "remains insufficient" and suggested that had also slowed the process of Hamas laying down its weapons.

"We likewise call on Hamas's leadership to abide by its commitments without further delay," the Board of Peace said.

"Recent military activity in civilian areas and near Israeli positions endangers civilians and undermines the humanitarian progress of the last year."

Israel blamed Hamas for the situation, repeating its claims that Hamas had been stealing aid and using it for its own purposes.

"Hamas has done what it has always done: lie, steal, exploit, and rearm," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office posted on X.

"As long as Hamas remains in power, it will use every dual-use item entering Gaza to entrench its terror regime and expand its military arsenal.

"Hamas alone is responsible for the suffering of the people of Gaza, and it is now cynically exploiting that suffering to shift blame onto Israel once again."

Mr Netanyahu's office insisted more than 91,000 tents had been allowed into Gaza ahead of the winter season, and more than 8,200 trucks carrying items like tarpaulins and blankets had also entered the strip.

Allegations have also been raised of Hamas blocking engineers from working on shelter projects in a bid to exacerbate the crisis, after a social media post from one man named Ahmed al-Tallouli said he had been forced by Hamas to stop work.

The United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA has said there are more than 150,000 tents waiting to be let into Gaza, which have been held up because of Israeli restrictions and funding shortfalls.

UNICEF's Toby Fricker told the ABC that demand for shelter in Gaza was still outstripping supply.

"The needs are immense and vast, and for any UNICEF or any agency to provide for everyone, it's such a huge task and undertaking because there are so many needs inside Gaza," he said.

"We have been bringing in tents, we have been bringing in tarpaulins, but it's nowhere near enough.

"The ceasefire announcement brought some more stability, let's say, for children and families across the Gaza Strip, but what it really needs to do now is deliver on the recovery."

He pointed to work UNICEF was trying to do in restoring sanitation and water supplies being impeded by equipment restrictions.

"There's Sheikh Radwan, which is a stormwater basin; it's meant to hold rainfall so it doesn't flood the local community in Gaza City," he said.

"Now it's filling up; it's also contaminated with sewage, which could be a huge public health risk for children and families in that area.

"But we don't have the equipment to fix that and to pump the water out quickly enough."