Torrential rain swept across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, flooding hundreds of tents sheltering families displaced by two years of war and leading to the death of a baby girl due to exposure, local health officials said.
Medics said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died of exposure to cold after water inundated her family’s tent in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
Weeping and holding Rahaf in her hands, her mother Hejar Abu Jazar said she had fed the girl before they went to sleep.
“When we woke up, we found the rain over her and the wind on her, and the girl died of cold suddenly,” she told Reuters.
“There was nothing wrong with her. Oh, the fire in my heart, the fire in my heart, oh my life,” she said in tears.
Municipal and civil defense officials said they were unable to cope with the storm because of fuel shortages and damage to equipment.
They said Israel destroyed hundreds of vehicles, including bulldozers and others used to pump water, during the war, which displaced most of the over two million population and left much of Gaza in ruins.
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