Four people killed in Gaza after walls collapse on tents during strong winds, hospital authorities say

Four people have been killed in Gaza after walls collapsed on to tents during strong winds and rainfall, hospital authorities have said.

A teenage girl, two women and a man died overnight on Monday, according to the al Shifa hospital, Gaza City's largest hospital.

The hospital, which received the casualties, said one of the two women was killed when a wall collapsed on her tent in the western part of the city.

The other woman, man and 15-year-old girl, it said, were from the same family and died after a wall collapsed on to their tent in a coastal area along the Mediterranean shore of Gaza City, injuring at least five others.

It is the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people across southern Israel and abducted 251 to Gaza.

Israel's retaliation reduced much of Gaza to ruins, killing more than 71,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities, which don't discriminate between fighters and civilians.

Aid groups say that Gazans, most of whom are living in makeshift tents, lack the shelter necessary to withstand frequent winter storms and say not enough shelter materials are entering the region during the ceasefire, which has been in effect since October last year.

Yasmin Shalha, a mother-of-five displaced from the northern town of Beit Lahiya whose tent fell on her as she slept, told The Associated Press: "The winds were very, very strong. The tent collapsed over us.

Mohamed al Sawalha, a 72-year-old man from the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, also criticised the conditions most Gazans are experiencing.

"It [the tent] doesn't work neither in summer nor in winter," he said.

"We left behind houses and buildings [with] doors that could be opened and closed.

"Now we live in a tent. Even sheep don't live like we do."

As of Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least six children as young as seven days old had died of hypothermia since the start of winter.

Three killed in Israeli drone strike, hospital officials say

Hospital officials also said an Israeli drone strike had killed three Palestinians who crossed the ceasefire line near central Gaza's Morag Corridor on Monday.

Israel's military said the three people approached troops and posed an immediate threat and said they later found weapons and intelligence-gathering equipment on them.

An anti-Hamas armed group in southern Gaza yesterday claimed responsibility for the killing of senior Hamas police officer Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud al Astal, who was gunned down in Khan Younis, the Hamas-run interior ministry said.

More than 440 people have been killed since Israel and Hamas agreed to suspend their two-year war, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Each side has accused the other of violating the ceasefire, which remains in its initial stage as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final Israeli hostage in Gaza.

The latest strike comes as Gaza awaits an expected announcement this week of a so-called Board of Peace to help oversee its governance.

Officials say that US President Donald Trump will announce his appointments to the board in the coming days.

Under Mr Trump's plan, the board would supervise the new Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction.

Hamas has said it will dissolve its existing government once the Palestinian technocratic committee has been formed, as mandated under the US-brokered peace plan.

Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesperson, called for the speeding up of the establishment of the new committee in a Telegram post on Sunday.

Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority have not yet announced who will sit on the committee and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the US.

Israel's military currently controls a buffer zone covering more than half of Gaza, while the Hamas-run government retains authority over the rest.