Gaza Floods Leave Displaced Families Exposed as Board of Peace Warns of Emergency

Heavy rain flooded forty thousand tents across Gaza tent cities on Saturday leaving displaced families exposed to cold and unsafe conditions.

The downpour triggered immediate warnings from international bodies regarding winter safety. The Board of Peace said that the flooding transformed the situation into an immediate humanitarian emergency. Displaced residents faced the destruction of their temporary shelters overnight. “Our neighbours are gone,” Gaza survivors recounted, describing the horrors of the deadly floods to Al Jazeera. Contrasting narratives emerged over the scale and origins of the crisis. Justin Pozmanter, News Director at HonestReporting, told The Jerusalem Post that the narrative and scale of suffering were outlined by Hamas before the rain began, pointing to a November 1 press release from the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee predicting a harsh winter and blaming Israeli restrictions. Twelve hours after the first rain on November 7, the Hamas-run Government Media Office claimed that seventy thousand tents had flooded with three million dollars in losses, figures that HonestReporting questioned as being produced too quickly.

Israel rejected blame for the camp conditions while disputing outside criticism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office insisted on Tuesday that Israel was facilitating winter supplies while accusing Hamas of blocking reconstruction, The Times of Israel reported. The Prime Minister’s Office said that Israel had coordinated winter preparations with the Board of Peace, the United Nations, and international organizations, delivering over ninety-one thousand tents and eight thousand two hundred truckloads of winter supplies, alongside twelve sewage removal trucks and fuel.

Israel maintained that Hamas diverted cement intended for housing into military tunnels and water pipes into rocket launchers. The Prime Minister’s Office added that mobile homes remain banned from entering the Strip, though Israel pledged to continue supporting winter preparedness. The Board of Peace urged Israel to authorize additional materials for temporary shelter, sanitation, drainage, and sewage disposal, while also calling on Hamas to disarm and relinquish governing authority.

The initial Hamas-government winter campaign document, released on November 1 on the Government Media Office Telegram channel, announced the 2026-2027 Winter Preparedness and Response Plan alongside the national campaign “Together Towards a Safe Winter.” That text called for two hundred thousand worn-out tents and one million tarps, while noting that seven thousand eight hundred tents were in dangerous locations.

The first winter storm arrived on November 6, preceding the figures published by the Hamas-run Government Media Office at 11:15 Israel time on November 7. Justin Pozmanter said that the media used the vocabulary of a human rights NGO while relying on figures sourced to a committee whose Hamas governance ties went unlabeled.

Netanyahu’s office stated in an English-language statement on Tuesday that “Israel is working in close cooperation with the United States and the Board of Peace,” adding that “Israel is committed to the success of President Trump’s 20-point plan.” The Prime Minister’s Office further maintained that “It used cement intended for homes to build terror tunnels, it turned water pipes into missile launchers, and it used sanitation pumps to manufacture rockets,” and asserted that “Hamas steals from Gazans to arm itself, systematically diverting humanitarian aid to military infrastructure while the United Nations and UNRWA turn a blind eye.” According to the Prime Minister’s Office, “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,” and “Israel calls upon the mediators to demand that Hamas disarm immediately throughout Gaza, so that President Trump’s 20-point plan can be realized.”