Around 40,000 shelters damaged by Gaza flooding - UNRWA

Updated / Wednesday, 11 Nov 2026 12:09

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UNRWA has said that weekend flooding in Gaza caused damage to around 40,000 family shelters.

Director of UNRWA Affairs Sean Jones said he believes around 200,000 people have been affected by the current flooding.

On Sunday, torrential rain in Gaza caused a sand embankment to collapse onto tents, killing a woman and three children.

The vast majority of Gaza's two million population lives in tent encampments or the ruins of bombed-out buildings, with reconstruction yet to begin following Israel's two-year military assault.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Jones said Israeli restrictions on bringing machinery into Gaza have led to drainage systems being blocked during heavy flooding.

He said around half of Gazans live in areas that are prone to flooding, and that drainage systems are "completely overwhelmed".

Mr Jones was speaking on the programme from Jordan, as he is not currently allowed into Gaza.

He said the international community "has not yet been allowed to begin recovery and reconstruction".

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He said UNRWA is still in a "humanitarian phase" and not thinking "as much long term".

Emergency response teams brought new tents, winter coats and blankets to families affected by the flooding, said Mr Jones.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier said that war was hurting nature in a speech before world leaders at the COP31 conference.

"Nature - no less than people - is also paying a heavy price for armed conflicts.

"The starkest example of this is Gaza... what has taken place in Gaza is not only a genocide, but it is also an ecocide," Mr Erdogan said to applause at the UN climate summit in Antalya.

⁠Meanwhile, the UN children's agency said Israel had rejected the importation of equipment needed to repair a water basin in Gaza, and warned that the facility could overflow and endanger nearby residents through flooding and disease.

One damaged facility is the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin in Gaza City, which is now contaminated with sewage and at risk of overflowing after ‌heavy rainfall, according to UNICEF's James Elder.

He ⁠told reporters the agency had been working with Israeli authorities and US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace for a year on a $3 million plan to repair it, but that COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing humanitarian affairs in Gaza, had rejected the project in the past few days.