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Most of Gaza’s population remains homeless, with many living in damaged buildings or tents and with no access to winter supplies as a result of Israel’s war on the territory.

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Storm Byron has swept across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 14 people, including children, and injuring others, as heavy rains, strong winds, and collapsing structures hit families already displaced by Israel’s recent military campaign, Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security said.

Storm Byron is a name given to powerful winter storm system that has moved across parts of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and flooding to several countries.

The ministry said five people died overnight on Friday after a house sheltering displaced civilians in Bir an-Naaja in northern Gaza collapsed during the storm. Two more were killed at dawn when a wall fell on tents in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood. A newborn in al-Mawasi and another person in Shati refugee camp also died after structural collapses, the ministry added.

Medical staff reported a rising number of deaths linked to exposure. At al-Shifa Hospital, nine-year-old Hadeel al-Masri and baby Taim al-Khawaja died after being caught in damaged shelters. In Khan Younis, eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died after rain flooded her family’s tent. Relatives said the family had been sheltering in a bombed-out home after their own house was destroyed in an Israeli air strike.

“His temperature remained between 33 and 34 degrees Celsius, which affected all his organs,” the child’s grandfather told Reuters. “His brain began to deteriorate, and that was the end of it.”

Heavy machinery was deployed across northern Gaza as rescue teams searched for victims amid rubble. Officials warned that continued rainfall, floods, and hail could affect around 850,000 people, including many children, sheltering in more than 760 temporary sites.

“Here, tents have been destroyed by heavy rain and wind, leaving families with ruined makeshift shelters,” said Ibrahim al-Khalili, reporting from al-Mawasi in southern Gaza. Large sections of the shoreline have collapsed, putting tents pitched close to the sea at risk.

Most of Gaza’s population remains homeless, with many living in damaged buildings or tents and with no access to winter supplies, civil defence teams said. Emergency crews have received more than 4,300 distress calls since the storm began and recorded at least 12 collapses of buildings previously hit by Israeli strikes.

Despite limited resources, police and civil defence teams continue rescue operations, the ministry said, calling on international actors to pressure Israel to allow critical aid and shelter materials into the Strip.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem described the deaths as a “continuation of the war of extermination” and said children drowning in flooded tents underscored the ongoing humanitarian crisis. He called for urgent international action to provide adequate shelter materials, saying current aid supplies “do not protect against rainwater or the cold.”