Gaza: Heavy rain inundates thousands of tents

After a sleepless night of storms, these Gazans clear the water that has flooded their makeshift homes the best they can. Some resort to scooping out water with buckets and building mud barriers to protect their tents and meager belongings. Efforts that have proven to be in vain. The The situation is catastrophic. There was heavy rainfall last night and we've been flooded. The entire tent is submerged. The ground is covered in water and the tent collapsed on top of me. It's a disaster. Our blankets and mattresses are soaked. The situation is very bad. Across the besieged Gaza Strip, the rainy season has become an additional source of suffering for the hundreds of thousands of people living in tents, and is putting extra pressure on a population still facing critical shortages of food, fuel and medicine. The UN says approximately 121,000 tents, half a million plastic tarps and 57,000 emergency shelter kits are part of the basic necessities urgently needed. Nothing is left, no blankets, no mattresses, not even nylon sheets. We are waiting for them, praying to God that someone might send us a couple of pieces to cover ourselves with, or a tent just like everyone else. Say your name, man. Zayen Nass. And the risks extend beyond the flooding of tents. While the UN estimates over 400,000 displaced people are currently living in areas with a high flood risk, There is a growing fear that buildings damaged by Israeli bombardments may collapse under the impact of wind and rain, putting even more lives at risk.