Gaza authorities have condemned international inaction after four children and a woman were killed when a rain-soaked sandbank collapsed onto their tent in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported Monday.

Two people remained missing after Sunday’s collapse. Heavy rain from a storm that reached Gaza on Friday flooded displacement camps and weakened buildings already damaged by Israeli air raids, according to the report.

In a statement Monday, the Gaza Government Media Office described the deaths as a consequence of international “indifference and inaction.” It accused Israel, the United States and the international community of responsibility for restrictions on shelter supplies and equipment needed by municipal workers and Civil Defence crews.

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli military restrictions had left specialist search-and-rescue equipment in short supply, forcing residents to dig with their bare hands. Its correspondent in Deir el-Balah, Tareq Abu Azzoum, said the victims had been living in flimsy tents on exposed ground without protection from heavy rain.

The storm flooded about 70,000 tents, according to Al Jazeera. Save the Children said more than half a million children were living in “critical or catastrophic” shelter conditions.

The aid organization said Israeli authorities had repeatedly blocked the entry of caravans intended as more durable alternatives to tents, leaving children exposed to another winter.

Sources