As severe weather caused by Storm Byron swept across the Gaza Strip this week, pounding the territory with heavy rain, strong winds and flooding, thousands of displaced families were plunged deeper into crisis.
What had already been a humanitarian emergency became, in the words of local officials, a catastrophe unfolding in real time.
Ismail Al Thawabta, a spokesman for the government in Gaza, said the storm’s impact more than lived up to earlier warnings.
“We are facing serious developments,” he told The National, adding that at least 12 people had been killed, 13 homes had collapsed, and 27,000 tents had been flooded or uprooted. “This has significantly worsened the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.”
More than 1.5 million displaced people, many living in worn and makeshift tents, were suddenly exposed to the risk of drowni
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