Witnesses describe desperate rescue effort after deadly landslide hits Gaza displacement camp

Witnesses have recounted the desperate attempt to rescue three members of one family after a landslide, set off by strong winds and torrential rain, struck a camp for displaced people in Gaza.

On Sunday, a sand bank above the encampment south of Deir al-Balah gave way, leaving five people dead and at least three tents crushed.

Abdul Karim al-Sahhar, 30, who is originally from Izbat Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, called it "a horrifying sight." He described seeing people trapped under sand and rocks, silent and motionless, with one tent so completely swallowed that no sign of it remained.

The dead included a mother and her children, aged six and eight. Sahhar, whose own shelter was severely damaged, said the father of the family survived only because he had stepped out of the tent. One of the children had asked him to come eat, and the collapse happened while he was slightly delayed in returning. Sahhar recalled the father crying out: "Save my children! Save my children!" He said young men had to smash a huge boulder into pieces to reach those pinned beneath it.

Another witness, Abu Darbali, told Reuters the embankment's collapse sounded like an explosion, and that three tents were fully covered when the hillside came down on them. Footage shared on social media showed residents hammering at large rocks, shoveling sand aside, and shining flashlights as they searched for the trapped.

According to the UN, more than 26,000 households reported damage to shelters or belongings following the weekend's rainstorms. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents live in tent encampments or the remains of destroyed buildings, with reconstruction still not begun after Israel's two-year military campaign, launched in response to the Hamas attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.

Toby Fricker, a spokesperson for Unicef, said the collapse had been an accident waiting to happen, pointing to extreme overcrowding as people settle wherever they can find space. Unicef has been working to improve drainage in displacement camps and prevent similar tragedies.

The Hamas-run government media office said in a statement that about "70,000 tents sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people were flooded on the first day" of the rains, and reported the collapse of dozens of cracked walls and roofs, causing injuries, some of them critical, across the territory.

A US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year envisaged Gaza's eventual reconstruction, but progress has been minimal. Negotiators have not settled terms for Hamas to disarm or for Israel to pull back its forces, which control roughly two-thirds of the territory from which residents were ordered to leave. Israel maintains reconstruction cannot start until Hamas is disarmed. Sahhar said his family is now homeless, explaining that his tent and all his possessions, including his mattress and household items, were lost under the sand and nothing could be recovered.

Mustafa Qazzaat, a Gaza City council member, said Israel has barred prefabricated homes for the displaced since the truce and allowed in only limited numbers of tents, while many so-called dual use goods such as metal tent poles remain restricted, forcing aid workers to improvise wooden poles from food transport palettes. Cogat, the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing aid to Gaza, said over 91,000 tents and more than 8,200 trucks carrying tarpaulins, blankets and winter clothing had entered the territory, alongside fuel and engine oil for pumping stations and other humanitarian facilities. An assessment by shelter specialists earlier this year found that thousands of tents supplied by China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia gave displaced Palestinians only limited protection from wind and rain.