UNICEF described the living conditions for families and children in Gaza as “catastrophic” following days of severe weather.
Spokesperson Ricardo Pires told a regular UN briefing in Geneva that an estimated 17,000 families had been directly impacted by flooding.
“We are seeing heartbreaking stories of desperate families feeling completely lost and exhausted after their tents got flooded,” Pires said.
“Most of them have been displaced multiple times and lost everything in the past two years.”
He highlighted the acute vulnerability of children sleeping in flooded tents without warm clothing or dry bedding.
Many already suffer from very low immunity and inadequate nutrition while carrying the trauma of prolonged conflict, he added.
“When children are sleeping in flooded tents without warm clothing, or dry bedding – many lacking the required nutrition with very low immunity and already traumatized by conflict – winter becomes extremely dangerous,” Pires said.
He listed hypothermia, respiratory infections and death among the primary risks now facing the population.
UNICEF renewed its call for urgent humanitarian assistance to provide winterization support across Gaza.