More than 800,000 Gazans are at risk of flooding, the United Nations said, as a powerful winter storm lashed the Gaza Strip.
Heavy rains have already flooded the camps and led to the collapse of several buildings, writes the BBC.
A steady stream of water seeps through vents in the tent Ghadir al-Adham shares with his wife and six children in Gaza City. Her family is still displaced after the war and waiting for reconstruction to begin.
– We live a life full of humiliation. We want camper vans and to have our houses renovated. Every day I sit and cry with my children – she said.
Two months after an American-imposed ceasefire, Gaza is stuck in the first phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan, the territory divided between warring parties, people still displaced and surrounded by rubble. Plans for new homes and a new government have been frozen in the next phase of Trump’s peace deal, while the search for the last Israeli hostage, Rana Gvili, continues.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that Hamas must return all Israeli hostages, dead and alive, before the two sides can move on to the next, more difficult phase of the peace deal.
But several searches of the ruins in Gaza have so far turned up no trace. Gwili was captured during Hamas attacks on October 7. His parents, Talik and Itzik, were told last year that he did not survive.
The road to their home in Meitar, southern Israel, is decorated with banners in his honor, while yellow flags commemorating the Israeli hostages fly along the road.
– They stole our child – said his mother Talik.
– They know where it is, they’re just trying to hide it or keep it. They are playing with us – added Itzik.
The parents believe Hamas wants to keep their son as a guarantor for future negotiations, once all the other hostages, dead and alive, have been returned. In response, a Hamas official told the BBC that their claims were untrue and that Israel was trying to avoid implementing the agreement.
But with no sign of Gwili’s body, and under increasing pressure from Washington, his parents say they are counting on Israeli leaders not to move on until their son is found.
Many in Israel believe it would be politically difficult for Netanyahu to implement the next steps of the deal, including withdrawing Israeli forces further toward the Gaza border, if even one hostage is still missing. Both Israel and Hamas face tough concessions in the next phase of the deal. For Hamas, this means handing over weapons and power. For Israel, handing over security to international stabilization forces.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
