Woman and grandson burn to death in tent as Gaza humanitarian crisis deepens

A grandmother and her five-year-old grandson burned to death in Gaza when their tent caught fire, as thousands of Palestinians battle harrowing winter conditions in flimsy makeshift housing and the humanitarian crisis deepens.

The nylon tent in Yarmouk caught fire on Thursday night from cooking activity, a neighbour said.

As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed almost daily by Israeli fire, and the humanitarian crisis shows no signs of abating.

Over past weeks, cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, causing flooding, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing buildings damaged in Israeli bombardment to collapse.

Unicef says at least six children have now died of weather-related causes, including a four-year-old who died in a building collapse. At least three children have died from hypothermia, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel’s military suggest it has not met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.

There is also concern that Israel’s recent suspension of more than three dozen international aid groups from operating in Gaza will make it even harder to get supplies such as tents in.

Palestinians have long called for mobile homes and caravans to be allowed in to protect them against living in impractical and worn-out tents. In Yarmouk people live in nylon tents near a rubbish dump.

Ashraf al-Suwair said he woke up to the sound of screaming. He said the nylon is like fuel, easy to ignite. “We need a good place that suits the people and the children of Gaza, instead of burning to death,” he said.

On Friday the foreign ministers of Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, expressed concern about Gaza’s deteriorating humanitarian situation.

The situation has been “compounded by the continued lack of sufficient humanitarian access, acute shortages of essential life-saving supplies, and the slow pace of the entry of essential materials,” said the joint statement.

Also on Friday, American actor and film producer Angelina Jolie visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The only crossing between the territory and a country other than Israel, it remains closed despite Palestinian requests to reopen it to people and aid.

Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, 414 people have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry.

The overall Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,266. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

The Israel-Hamas war began with the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage,

Meanwhile, Israel continues operating in the occupied West Bank.

On Friday, the Palestinian Prisoners media office said Israel carried out wide-scale raids across the territory including Ramallah and Hebron. Nearly 50 people were detained.

Israel’s military said there were arrests made of people “involved in terrorist activity”.

This follows the arrest of at least 50 other Palestinians on Thursday. Most of those occurred in the Ramallah area.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society says that Israel has arrested 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year, and 21,000 since the war began. The number arrested from Gaza is not made public by Israel.