Aziza al-Shabrawi tried in vain to get the rainwater out of her family's tent, pointing to her two children living in such precarious conditions.
"My son is sick because of the bitter cold and my daughter is barefoot. It's like we're beggars," said the 38-year-old. "No one cares, and no one helps."
Temperatures dropped overnight as rain pummelled the war-wracked territory where many tents were swamped and many people were forced to sleep under plastic sheeting due to the lack of any better shelter.
Shabrawi is among some 1.9 million people displaced during more than two months of war, half of them children, with many fleeing to southern Rafah following orders from the Israeli military.
She was forced first to leave her home in the northern Jabalia refugee camp, reaching the southern city of Khan Yunis, only to flee further to Rafah as Israeli troops pressed deeper into Gaza.
Rafah has become a vast camp for the displaced beside the Egyptian border, with hundreds of tents erected using wood and plastic sheets.
"We spent five days outdoors. And now the rain has flooded the tents," said another displaced resident, Bilal al-Qassas.
Gusts of wind shook the fragile structures, while people tried to reinforce them with more plastic sheeting.
"Where do we migrate to? Our dignity is gone. Where do women relieve themselves? There are no bathrooms," said 41-year-old Qassas.
"We've started to long for martyrdom. We don't want to eat or drink."
- 'Desperate need' -
Since December 3, tens of thousands have reached Rafah, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency, where they face "extremely overcrowded conditions both inside and outside shelters".
They are in "desperate need of food, water, shelter, health, and protection," the UN's OCHA said in a statement.
"Without enough latrines, open-air defecation is prevalent, increasing concerns of further spread of disease, particularly during rains and related flooding."
As the war intensified, many Gazans have fled their homes in just the clothes they were wearing, at a time when temperatures were considerably warmer.
The war broke out on October 7 with an attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel which killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
The military response by Israel has killed more than 18,600 Gazans, most of them civilians, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says.
With the war in its third month, many Palestinians told AFP they are surviving without mattresses, blankets or anything else to keep them warm.
Bilal Abu Bakr, who fled from the coastal Al-Shati refugee camp, said he has no electricity or internet access to check the weather forecast.
"Suddenly, we were inundated by rainwater," said the 49-year-old. "We only have one blanket for nine people. We ask for the minimum -- some mattresses, blankets, clothes for the displaced.
"We've forgotten the suffering of war, and we are now suffering from winter and the freezing cold, for how long?"
Israel army says 115 soldiers have been killed in Gaza war
Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 13, 2023 -
The Israeli army said Wednesday that 115 soldiers had been killed so far in its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, including 10 the day before -- the vast majority in a single battle.
The 10 deaths recorded on Tuesday made it the single deadliest day for the military since its ground assault on the Palestinian territory began on October 27.
According to the military's official list of casualties, nine of those killed on Tuesday belonged to units that a military spokesman said were involved in a fierce battle in Shejaiya. Two of those killed in the battle were senior officers.
"Yesterday afternoon a force of Golani (brigade) fighters entered a building, where they were met with heavy fire and fought with the terrorists," spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
"More forces of the brigade, assisted by the 669 rescue unit of the Air Force, stormed the building in order to rescue them under heavy fire."
Another military official said that Shejaiya, a district of Gaza City, was a Hamas stronghold and home to complexes of interlinked buildings containing weapons caches.
Tuesday's clash occurred at one such cluster of three to four buildings rigged with improvised explosive devices, the official said.
The battle stretched on for several hours.
The official noted that around 350 Hamas fighters had been killed in Shejaiya since the start of the offensive.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw another 240 taken hostage, Israeli officials say.
The ensuing campaign has so far killed more than 18,600 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Biden warns Israel may lose global support over 'indiscriminate bombing' of Gaza
Washington DC (UPI) Dec 13, 2023 -
President Joe Biden said he warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza was eroding international support for the war against Hamas.
Speaking at a campaign reception at the Salamander D.C. Hotel in Washington, Biden said that while Israel could count on U.S. support, the attacks on Gaza, which have led to the deaths of more than 18,000 Palestinians have raised criticism from world powers.
"Israel's security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world," he said.
"But they're starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place."
Biden's comments came after Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel had received the "full backing" of the United States, noting that it has blocked "international pressure to stop the war."
The United States over the weekend was the lone nation to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Israel to implement an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.
Netanyahu. however, said the two sides were still at odds over the fate of Gaza after the war, with Netanyahu seeking to eliminate any role for the Palestinian Authority, while Biden has supported a two-state solution.
"There is a disagreement when it comes to 'the day after Hamas,'" Netanyahu said. "I hope we will come to an agreement there, too."
Biden on Tuesday asserted that there is "no question about the need to take on Hamas," adding that Israel had "every right" to do so after the militant group launched conducted a bloody surprise attack on Oct. 7 that killed some 1,200 people and saw more than 200 others taken hostage.
He, however, pointed to Israel's cabinet which he referred to as "the most conservative government in Israel's history."
"They not only want to have retribution, which they should for what ... Hamas did, but against all Palestinians. They don't want a two-state solution. They don't want anything having to do with the Palestinians," he said.
Biden said that Netanyahu must make "change" with his government which he said "is making it very difficult for him to move."
"We have an opportunity to unite the region," Biden said. "And they still want to do it. But we have to make sure that Bibi understands that he's got to make some moves to strengthen it, change it, move it. You cannot say there's no Palestinian state at all in the future. And that's going to be the hard part."
Biden also detailed a seemingly recent conversation he had with Netanyahu in which the Israeli leader rebutted the U.S. president's criticism by pointing to civilians killed in the U.S. bombing of Germany and the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"I say, 'Yeah, that's why all these institutions were set up after World War II to see to it that it didn't happen again -- it didn't happen again. Don't make the same mistakes we made at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to do some of the things we did.'"
Members of the Biden administration have also in recent days started to openly question Israel's offensive and the growing number of dead Palestinian civilians, with Vice President Kamala Harris stating early this month that "too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week also said a "gap" exists between Israel's stated pledge to protect civilian lives and the mounting death toll in Gaza.
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