Witnesses have described the frantic struggle to save three members of a family buried by a landslide triggered by high winds and heavy rain in Gaza.
asserted
Witnesses → describe → Gaza
A sand bank overlooking a camp for displaced families south of Deir al-Balah collapsed on Sunday, killing five people and crushing at least three tents.
“It was a horrifying sight,” said Abdul Karim al-Sahhar, 30, originally from Izbat Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
asserted
Sahhar → overlook → Gaza
“We saw people buried beneath the sand and rocks.
asserted
We → see → sand
None of them was moving or making a sound.
asserted
None → move → sound
Even the tent had disappeared completely.
asserted
tent → disappear → ?
Sahhar, whose own shelter was badly damaged in the landslide, said the children’s father was outside the family tent and so survived.
asserted
father → damage → tent
“One of his children had called him to come and eat with them,” he said.
asserted
he → call → them
“He was a little late returning, and then the collapse happened.
asserted
collapse → return → ?
“The father started shouting: ‘Save my children! Save my children!’
asserted
father → shout → children
People came and started digging [but] there was a huge boulder on top of the victims.
asserted
People → come → victims
The young men had to break it into pieces so they could reach the people buried underneath.”
uncertain
they → have → people
Abu Darbali, another witness, said the collapse of the embankment sounded like an explosion.
asserted
collapse → say → explosion
“We found that three tents were covered completely after the mountain collapsed on top of them,” he told Reuters.
asserted
he → find → Reuters
“People were under the rubble and we couldn’t see them.”
asserted
we → see → them
Video posted to social media showed residents using hammers to break large rocks and others removing sand with shovels, searching for people trapped underneath using flashlights.
asserted
others → post → flashlights
The UN said more than 26,000 households had reported damage to shelters or belongings after the weekend’s rainstorms.
asserted
households → say → rainstorms
The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million live in tent encampments or the ruins of bombed-out buildings, with reconstruction yet to begin after Israel’s relentless two-year military assault launched after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
asserted
reconstruction → live → October
“The collapse [this weekend] was waiting to happen.
asserted
collapse → wait → ?
People are just trying to find a place wherever,” said Toby Fricker, a spokesperson for Unicef, which has been working to prevent similar tragedies and improve drainage in camps for the displaced.
asserted
which → try → displaced
In a statement, the Hamas-run government media office said about “70,000 tents sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people were flooded on the first day” of rains.
asserted
tents → run → rains
It also noted the “collapse of dozens of cracked walls and roofs, which caused injuries”, some critical, in various areas of the tiny territory.
asserted
some → note → territory
A US-brokered ceasefire last year called for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza, but little progress has been made.
asserted
progress → broker → Gaza
Negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm or for Israel to withdraw its troops, which control about two-thirds of the territory from which residents have been ordered to leave.
asserted
residents → fail → which
Israel says no reconstruction can happen before Hamas is disarmed.
asserted
Hamas → say → ?
Sahhar said he and his family were now homeless.
asserted
he → say → ?
“My tent and everything I own are now buried under the sand.
asserted
I → own → sand
My mattress, household utensils and all my belongings – everything was buried.
asserted
everything → bury → ?
I could not retrieve anything,” he said.
uncertain
he → retrieve → anything
Mustafa Qazzaat, a member of the Gaza City council, said Israel had not allowed prefabricated homes to shelter the displaced since the truce was announced, and only permitted the entry of limited numbers of tents.
asserted
truce → say → tents
Many so-called “dual use” items remain restricted, such as metal tent poles.
asserted
items → call → poles
Humanitarian workers said they instead had used wooden poles fashioned from palettes used to transport food.
asserted
they → say → food
Cogat, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees aid to Gaza, said over 91,000 tents and over 8,200 trucks containing tarpaulins, blankets and winter clothinghad reached Gaza, as well as convoys carrying supplies of fuel and engine oil to power pumping facilities and other humanitarian installations.
asserted
tents → oversee → facilities
Earlier this year, an assessment compiled by shelter specialists in Gaza revealed that thousands of tents supplied by China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to shelter displaced Palestinians offered only limited protection against rain and wind.
asserted
thousands → compile → rain
The Aporia
