Gaza storm kills five, including three children, as floods hit tent camps

Heavy rains and strong winds swept across Gaza over the weekend, killing five people, including three children and an infant who drowned, when a sand dune collapsed on tents, according to the UN aid coordination office. The storm flooded displacement sites, destroyed over 6,000 family shelters and damaged 17,400 more, leaving more than 3,900 households without shelter. Water levels reached 1.5 metres in some areas, and civil defence units could respond to only 218 of 2,166 distress calls. Humanitarian stocks of tents and blankets are nearly exhausted, though over 150,000 tents are waiting outside Gaza for delivery. UN officials called for Israel to lift restrictions on aid imports, noting that most of Gaza's 1.4 million tent-dwellers lack adequate protection from moderate storms.