Gaza After Heavy Rain: A Million Displaced People Left Without Shelter

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Gaza After Heavy Rain: A Million Displaced People Left Without Shelter.

The first heavy rainfall has destroyed tents and living spaces in the Gaza Strip. In Nussirat, in the central part of the coastal strip, water stands ankle-deep beneath the tent canopies. On Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, formerly one of the major thoroughfares, water drips through a tarpaulin onto completely soaked children's clothing. Mohammed Badwi stands underneath it and describes the consequences for his family: Sleeping mats, blankets and personal belongings have been ruined, and the tent has been completely destroyed.

The heavy rain therefore creates a concrete burden for a population that, according to the health minister, already includes more than one million displaced people without shelter. The full extent of the damage has not yet been assessed in the report dated November 8, 2026. What is clear, however, is that the rain and storms are destroying shelters that were already scarce.

More Than 70,000 Tents Are Already Uninhabitable

The number of destroyed shelters

Majed Abu Ramadan, the health minister of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, reports that more than 70,000 tents have become uninhabitable. According to his account, the people who had sought shelter there are now left without protection from the rain and storms. As he describes it, this means that the more than one million displaced people who lived in these tents now have neither accommodation nor shelter.

This also explains why the minister says the effects of the heavy rain go beyond individual flooded streets. Water is entering tents, destroying blankets and sleeping mats and taking away small children's dry clothing. For those affected, this is not a peripheral sum of damage, but the loss of the shelter that was still keeping their families safe.

Why the further rainfall is particularly dangerous

Ramadan describes the current heavy rainfall as the first severe rainfalls, with more expected in the coming months. At the same time, he points to the grave condition of the infrastructure. In addition to the water supply, roads, housing and the healthcare system have collapsed. The first heavy rain is therefore hitting structures that are neither intact nor capable of providing adequate shelter.

The Videos Show Water Pouring Into Tents

The water in Nussirat

The scene from Nussirat is concrete: The water reaches ankle-deep beneath the tent canopies. A man tries to channel the floodwater outside using containers, while mud covers the surrounding area. This makes the shortage of space more than just an abstract figure. The rain is entering people's immediate homes, and at the same time, residents have to actively remove the water.

Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City

The visibly damaged infrastructure can also be seen in Gaza City. On the formerly major thoroughfare, Badwi stands beneath his tent canopy as the rain hammers down on it. Water drips in everywhere. Completely soaked children's clothing lies on the ground, while outside, someone tries to dig a channel to divert the masses of water.

Badwi describes the situation as follows: “The entire area is flooded — the sleeping mats, the blankets, simply everything. And our belongings. The tent is completely destroyed; our things and blankets are ruined.” He also talks about his family's experiences, particularly those of the small children. When he asks the camera whether someone could help “with a decent amount of time,” the individual consequences of the floodwaters become visible: A destroyed tent, soaked materials and nowhere dry for the children to stay.

What the report still leaves open

The videos document the local damage, but the report does not provide a final tally of destroyed buildings, immediate injuries or the number of people directly affected by drowning. Nor can a complete overview of the supply situation be derived from it. What is documented are the floods in Nussirat and Gaza City, the destroyed tents and the extent of the homelessness that already existed.

More Than Two Million People Are Affected by the Weather

The Red Cross's assessment

According to Pat Griffiths, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, the situation extends beyond the people in tents. In an interview with the ARD Tel Aviv studio, he puts the population in the Gaza Strip affected by the weather conditions at more than two million people. This means the issue is not confined to tents: Damaged buildings in which people are seeking shelter could also collapse.

Griffiths thus identifies a wider group of people affected than the million displaced people without shelter mentioned in the report. He warns of the spread of diseases and the related consequences for the winter. His explanation: There are many challenges in health and hygiene. At the same time, deaths from diseases caused by contaminated water are being reported, even though they could actually have been prevented.

The warning is not based solely on the heavy rain. It follows from the interaction between damaged accommodation, a collapsed water supply, roads, housing and healthcare systems, and the outbreak of disease. The Red Cross therefore provides the medical context for a situation that is not explicitly addressed in the health minister's statement.

91,000 Tents Have Arrived, but Reconstruction Has Not

The winter plan from the COGAT authority

The Israeli authority COGAT, which reports to the Defense Ministry and controls the entry of aid supplies, said it is monitoring the situation. A winter plan is being implemented. According to the authority, more than 91,000 tents have already entered the territory.

This is the strongest counterpoint to the warning of a humanitarian catastrophe: Aid supplies have arrived, and the responsible authority points to an ongoing winter plan. At the same time, according to Reuters, Olfat el-Magdoub, a single mother with four children from Gaza City, has so far seen little of this winter plan. For her, the first day of rain was already a flood. Four days earlier, she and her children had slept on blankets spread out on the floor because rainwater had flooded the bedding; now the mattresses are wet as well.

The limited prospect of reconstruction

COGAT also said that reconstruction in Gaza will only begin once Hamas has been completely disarmed. The timetable for a larger restoration of housing and infrastructure is therefore tied to a political condition. In the meantime, the more than two million people affected by the weather must cope with the current conditions. The additional rainfall expected in the coming months is thus hitting more than 70,000 tents that are already uninhabitable, damaged buildings and a water supply that has collapsed severely, according to the ministry.

The Tagesschau report from November 8, 2026, at 8:12 p.m., therefore shows two levels at once: Videos document how water and mud are entering everyday shelters in Nussirat and on Al-Jalaa Street. At the same time, the minister, the Red Cross and COGAT place these consequences within a broader humanitarian crisis intensified by destroyed infrastructure, a lack of shelter and the conditions attached to reconstruction. You can find the full report here.