Seasonal rains in Gaza: thousands of tents sheltering displaced families flooded

The season's first storm rain in Gaza flooded thousands of tents sheltering displaced Palestinian families, forcing them out into the bitter cold.

Rain began early Saturday and about 1,500 emergency calls were received in just 10 hours, Gaza's civil defence agency said, with water levels rising to 30-40 centimetres in many shelters. "What we feared has happened. Some shelters are completely submerged; everyone in them has now been pushed out without any plan," said civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal.

Premature babies, the elderly and the sick are at the greatest risk, he warned.

Buildings already damaged by the war also collapsed in places because of the storm; rescue workers evacuated residents after a building partially collapsed in the Nuseirat area, and in northern Gaza two people were injured when the wall of a house fell.