A sandbank collapsed onto a tent in Deir el-Balah on Sunday, killing four children and a woman during heavy rains that brought the first winter storm to Gaza. Two people remain missing. About 70,000 tents flooded when the storm hit the territory over the weekend.
The Gaza Government Media Office said in a statement that the deaths reflect "the extent of the complicity and abandonment" facing Palestinians, and held Israel, the United States and the international community "fully and directly responsible" for blocking entry of shelter supplies, construction materials, caravans and fuel.
Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Deir el-Balah that victims were living in flimsy tents on exposed ground with no protection from heavy rain. "When the embankment collapsed, those people had no chance to escape or protect themselves," he said. Floodwaters inundated displacement camps and weakened buildings already damaged by Israeli air raids.
Restrictions imposed by the Israeli military mean specialist search and rescue equipment is in short supply. Gaza residents dug with bare hands to try to reach survivors.
Save the Children said more than half a million children are living in "critical or catastrophic" shelter conditions. The organization noted that a ceasefire agreement announced over a year ago stipulated entry of caravans as a more durable alternative to tents, but Israeli authorities have repeatedly blocked their entry.