Gaza sandbank collapse kills woman and three children, UNICEF says
Update November 12, 2026: UNICEF's November 9 statement says three children and their mother died after a rain-soaked sand dune collapsed onto a tent in Deir al-Balah. The account below preserves the earlier report and its correction; the initial five-death figure is not the current toll for this incident. UNICEF says rain directly affected more than 106,000 people and warns that displaced families face severe shelter, sanitation and winter risks. Other UN reporting includes additional deaths in the wider storm, so those totals should not be combined as if they describe this one collapse.
Earlier report and corrections
A woman and four children were killed when a sand embankment collapsed onto tents sheltering displaced families in central Gaza, following heavy rain that flooded tens of thousands of tents across the territory.
The collapse struck the camp late on Sunday, a day after downpours turned large areas of the displacement sites into mud. Others were injured and rescue teams dug through the sand to reach people buried beneath it.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war are living in makeshift tents that offer little protection from winter weather, and aid agencies have repeatedly warned that rain and cold would turn the camps deadly.
Local authorities blamed global inaction for the deaths, saying repeated appeals for proper shelter materials, caravans and emergency equipment had gone unanswered.
Health officials said the toll could rise as rescue work continued, and more rain was forecast for the coming days.
UPDATE: Gaza's health ministry on Monday morning confirmed four dead, including a woman, after a rain-soaked sand embankment collapsed onto a displacement camp south of Deir al-Balah on Sunday night; initial reports of five dead and two missing were later revised down to four. The victims were identified as Tahrir Nabhan and three children: Mariam Nabhan, her brother Salah, and Habiba al-Zein. At least five injured people were rescued. 'When we arrived, we pulled them out with our own hands along with the camp's young men,' said rescuer Mustafa al-Masri. 'Those who did not die from bombs and missiles are dying from collapsing buildings and mudslides,' said Amal Al-Zein, a relative of the victims. The Civil Defence said water levels rose as high as 1.5 metres in places during Saturday's heavy rain, and first responders could answer only 10 percent of 2,100 emergency calls. At least 70,000 tents flooded in the first hours of the rain, local officials say, and more than 26,000 families have sought help for shelter damage, according to the UN humanitarian coordination office. The Civil Defence warned that protecting displaced lives is an urgent humanitarian responsibility: their tents must not become death traps under mud and rainwater.
