Gaza officials plead for 450,000 tents as winter rain begins

Officials in the Gaza Strip issued urgent pleas on Saturday regarding the dire shelter crisis, warning that an approaching weather "depression" threatens to create an unparalleled disaster due to the complete collapse of infrastructure.

The spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense made an appeal, stating: "We need at least 450,000 tents to house the displaced people in the Gaza Strip."

This call comes amid a severe shortage of shelters, the destruction of thousands of homes, and harsh conditions affecting hundreds of thousands of displaced persons as winter nears.

Khan Younis Warns of Total Collapse

Saeb Luqan, spokesman for the Khan Younis Municipality, also issued his own distress call, describing the anticipated weather conditions as "dangerous."

Luqan warned that the upcoming weather “depression” threatens to "drown thousands of tents along the coast and flood entire areas within the city."

He noted that rainwater collection ponds are "filled to levels that threaten explosion" due to "semiparalyzed" sewage networks incapable of absorbing any new water volume.

Infrastructure Crisis: 15 Million Tons of Rubble

The municipality spokesman stated: "Imagine a city receiving millions of cubic meters of water without possessing a single safe path to drain it."

The figures presented by the municipality underscore the scale of the catastrophe:

• Roads: Nearly 210,000 linear meters of roads have been destroyed.
• Networks: 85% of road, water, and sewage networks are almost completely out of service.
• Rubble: More than 15 million tons of rubble impede movement, block drainage pathways, and prevent the establishment of any stable emergency infrastructure.
• Rain Filters: The municipality announced that 1,900 out of 2,200 rain filters have been destroyed, with crews making basic efforts, supported by a single UN organization, to clear what remains.

Primitive Equipment and Fuel Crisis

Compounding the problem, the few remaining sewage pumping stations are threatened with total failure due to a critical fuel shortage.

Luqan explained that the city is relying on just 16,000 liters of fuel received after the cease-fire, a quantity that "is not enough for three days of operation."

Against this immense destruction, municipal crews are struggling with "primitive equipment" to erect earth berms and modify valley paths, but they are "colliding with a volume of destruction that cannot be contained."

Luqan called on the international community to "save two million displaced persons along the coast," confirming that the city critically needs mobile pumps, emergency equipment, trucks to move rubble, and, above all, "fuel."

The official concluded that everyone is on the brink of an imminent catastrophe that "needs only one night of rain to become reality."