Palestinians in Gaza on Monday mourned the dead after a large sand embankment collapsed on tents due to torrential rains, as the Israeli military continues launching attacks across the besieged territory.
The sand embankment collapsed on tents in a crowded camp sheltering families displaced by Israel’s genocidal campaign in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, killing one woman and three children, according to numbers released by Gaza’s Health Ministry on Monday.
“What can one say about the situation in Gaza? Whoever did not die from bombs and missiles is dying from buildings collapsing on them, from the collapse of sand and mountains on them,” Amal al-Zein, a relative of the victims, told Reuters.
Multiple buildings damaged in Israel’s bombing campaign have collapsed over the past year, and the Health Ministry said that the sand embankment collapse brought the “total number of victims of building collapses and sand collapses to 56.”
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that on Monday, the wall of a damaged house collapsed onto tents, injuring at least three people, as the heavy rains over the weekend, which flooded tens of thousands of tents, have made the situation for displaced Palestinians living in the ruins of Gaza much more precarious.
The situation is a direct result of Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the joint US-Israeli decision to prevent reconstruction from taking place more than one year after the signing of a so-called ceasefire deal, which the Israeli military has constantly violated with daily attacks.
The Health Ministry said that over the previous 24 hours, Israeli attacks killed at least two Palestinians and another died of wounds sustained in a previous IDF strike. The Anadolu Agency reported that Israeli strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Monday injured at least 18 Palestinians.
Since the ceasefire agreement was signed in October 2025, Israeli forces have killed at least 1,613 Palestinians and wounded 5,833. The US has continued to back Israel’s attacks despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a US-backed proposal that would see Hamas give up its weapons.
