RAFAH, Gaza Strip: Chilly winter rains lashed war-battered Gaza on Wednesday (Dec 13), compounding the struggling of Palestinians pressured from their houses and now huddling in flooded tents.
At a tent camp in Rafah, situated on sandy terrain strewn with garbage, folks have been attempting to get better from a horrible night time, carrying buckets of sand to cowl puddles inside or simply outdoors their tents, and hanging up soggy garments.
Some households have correct tents, however others are making do with tarpaulins or skinny, see-through plastic made to guard items, not present shelter for folks. Many tents haven’t any floor sheets, so folks spent the night time huddling on moist sand.
“It’s torn and water poured on us. We have been drenched,” mentioned Ramadan Mohadad, a middle-aged man who was attempting to repair his household’s shelter usual from strips of plywood and a skinny plastic sheet.
Mohadad’s white T-shirt with stripes had giant moist patches across the collar and on each shoulders.
“We tried as a lot as we might to guard ourselves so water wouldn’t get by means of however rain acquired in … This plastic doesn’t shield folks sleeping below it,” he mentioned.
Rips have been seen in different households’ plastic shelters, and a few confirmed puddles inside. One household had positioned a cement block on the entrance to behave as a type of dam, in addition to smaller bricks inside that appeared like stepping stones.
