Torrential rain in Gaza caused a sand embankment to collapse on tents, killing a woman and three small children in an incident that highlighted the danger facing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians as the rainy winter season sets in.
Medics said heavy rain late on Sunday washed away a rocky sand bank abutting a camp for displaced families south of Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza.
A woman and two of her children, aged eight and six, were killed.
A fourth child, aged four, was also killed, and six others were injured.
Video verified by Reuters showed residents using hammers to break large sandy rocks and others removing sand with shovels searching for people trapped underneath using flashlights.
“What can one say about the situation in Gaza? Whoever did not die from bombs and missiles is dying from buildings collapsing on them, from the collapse of sand and mountains on them,” said Amal Al Zein, 35, a relative of the victims.
Sohaib Abu Darbali, a witness, said the collapse of the embankment sounded like an explosion.
“We found that three tents were covered completely after the mountain collapsed on top of them. People were under the rubble and we couldn’t see them,” he told Reuters.
The vast majority of Gaza’s two million population lives in tent encampments or the ruins of bombed-out buildings, with reconstruction yet to begin following Israel’s two-year military assault.
For many of them, this is the fourth winter during which they will need to cope with floodwaters.