They don’t leave their tents… Rain and siege batter people with disabilities in Gaza

With the end of the first storm to hit the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire, the tragic situation of people with disabilities is becoming clear. Their tents, already lacking basic necessities, were flooded by rainwater.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, the rains destroyed a camp housing more than 100 people with disabilities in Deir al-Balah, in the heart of Gaza City.

Amid the catastrophic conditions left by the Israeli war, people with disabilities are suffering from a lack of suitable clothing and beds, as well as wheelchairs, blankets, and medical mattresses.

They are no longer able to leave their flooded tents because their families are unable to move them through the devastated streets, which the rain has turned into pools of mud, as one Palestinian woman explained.

A resident of the camp said that these patients are only asking for what will preserve their dignity and their lives amidst the widespread destruction in the Strip, which prevented them from leaving their tents despite the severity of the storm.

Like other residents of Gaza, people with disabilities are no longer able to access even the most basic necessities due to the suffocating blockade that Israel continues to impose on the Strip.

Despite an internationally mediated agreement to end the war in Gaza last month, Israel has failed to uphold its commitments to allow the entry of food, medicine, and other essential supplies, including tents. Hundreds of thousands of families are forced to shelter in tattered tents they have used for two years and moved multiple times during their forced displacement.