https://t.co/nATR5L98Zp Winter rains have come to Gaza, compounding the misery of the two million or so people displaced into tents by Israel’s war of genocide. Red Cross spokesperson Amani Al Naouq told Al Jazeera that she has seen footage of “entire families, entire camps” inundated with water and scrambling to drain their tents and protect their belongings and lives, reported Middle East Eye. Israel has continued to tightly restrict the entry of aid into the territory, with shelter items—including tent poles, construction materials and mobile homes—almost completely barred as the Israeli authorities consider them “dual-use” items. Gaza’s emergency committee said more than one million displaced people face winter-related risks and that the territory needs about 200,000 tents, as well as heating supplies, Al Jazeera reported. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in a report published on Nov. 5, said people in Gaza still needed approximately 121,000 tents and 561,000 tarpaulins as of Nov. 1. It said available stocks included about 2,800 tents and 76,000 tarpaulins, while no emergency shelter kits were available. OCHA said the entry of timber needed for shelter kits continued to be rejected by Israeli authorities. Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan has warned of the risk of the outbreak of disease in Gaza as tens of thousands of displaced people have faced flooding while sheltering in makeshift tents. Abu Ramadan emphasized that the razing of infrastructure by Israel as part of its onslaught on Gaza has amplified the health risks. Overcrowded displacement camps and the cold and damp conditions inside damaged tents could expose children, infants and elderly people to an elevated risk of respiratory infections. Meanwhile, lack of clean water, busted sewage systems, and mounting waste pose the risk of water and food contamination, as well as the spread of rodents and insects. Abu Ramadan also emphasized that widespread malnutrition, particularly among children and pregnant women, means their bodies will be less able to fight off infections. “What is happening in Gaza is not a passing winter crisis, but an escalating threat to public health and people’s lives that requires immediate international action commensurate with the scale of the catastrophe,” Abu Ramadan said. Tamer Nahed, a Gazan journalist, wrote of the day’s events in a post on X https://t.co/1VTX0wqqnY: “I saw men crying bitterly. Men I had never seen cry when they lost their children or when their homes were destroyed. Today, I saw them crying because they were powerless to do the simplest thing: protect their children from the water and the cold. We spoke to families who told us they had spent the entire night carrying their children in their arms after floodwater covered the floors of their tents and soaked their mattresses. They couldn’t find a single dry place to put their children. They couldn’t even give them a few hours of sleep.”