Rainstorms uprooted and flooded scores of displacement tents in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, worsening the already deteriorating living conditions for many Palestinians as a suffocating Israeli siege continues to bar the entry of makeshift shelters.

According to the Palestinian Government Communication Center, the majority of the 1.9 million displaced in Gaza living in shelters face “life-threatening conditions due to extreme cold and heavy rain”.

“To date, hypothermia has tragically claimed the lives of six newborns and a physician,” the media office said in its latest situation report.

“We have no clothes, even for the kids. Maybe it’s easier on us adults because we can withstand the cold, but for children, it’s incredibly difficult.”

“Let the aid enter, bring in more tents, and stop this war as soon as possible because the cold and winter is exacerbating the population’s conditions and need for basic necessities.”

Figures from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classication (IPC) show that the Gaza Strip’s entire population, around 2.2 million people, is undergoing extreme levels of acute food insecurity.

Over 1.1 million people are at risk of facing catastrophic conditions classified under the IPC Phase 5, considered the most severe level of food insecurity.

Reneen Gossam Abu Assi, a 16-year-old displaced girl, says she doesn’t know how her young siblings can survive these conditions.

Her siblings spent the night suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting amid the rain, she added.

“As grownups we can endure this, but what about the children, what do we tell them?”