UN rapporteur: Gaza children living in flooded tents are ‘the shame of our time’
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese has described the plight of children in Gaza forced to remain in rain-soaked, flooded tents without protection from the winter cold as “the shame of our time,” highlighting the worsening humanitarian crisis and the continued suffering of displaced Palestinians despite the ceasefire.
In a post on X, Albanese expressed outrage over images showing children living in tents flooded with cold water, without even the most basic protection against harsh winter conditions.
“The words of Primo Levi come to mind, which every European learns by heart at school but forgets as soon as they enter the world of politics or diplomacy,” she wrote.
Her remarks come as humanitarian conditions across the Gaza Strip continue to deteriorate following a powerful storm that brought heavy rainfall and strong winds, flooding tens of thousands of tents and deepening the suffering of displaced families.
Many Palestinians are facing winter in makeshift, deteriorating shelters that offer little protection from rain, wind, and cold temperatures.
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO), the storm flooded approximately 70,000 displacement tents.
The collapse of sand embankments onto tents in Deir al-Balah also killed four Palestinians, including a mother and her two children, according to the GMO, highlighting the deadly risks facing displaced families without access to safe shelter.
In August, the GMO reported that more than 2.15 million Palestinians were living in dire humanitarian conditions, including approximately 867,000 people sheltering in deteriorating tents and more than one million others staying in displacement shelters.
The figures underscore Gaza’s worsening housing and shelter crisis as displaced families struggle to survive another winter without adequate protection from the elements.