Four killed in Gaza after sand embankment collapses onto tents, health ministry says

9 November 2026, 09: 44 GMT. Updated 2 hours ago.

Key points

• While the children were named as Mariam Nabhan and her brother Salah, and Habiba al-Zein, she was identified as Tahrir Nabhan.
• Since then, more than 74, 640 individuals have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
• An estimated 80% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN.
• Five injured individuals were additionally reportedly rescued after the incident on Sunday night at a camp for displaced families south of Deir al-Balah.
• Torrential rain on Saturday reportedly flooded tens of thousands of tents throughout Gaza, leaving numerous Palestinians without a dry place to sleep.

Three children and one woman were killed when a sand embankment collapsed onto tents in central Gaza after heavy rain, the Hamas-run health ministry states.

Videos indicated men using phone torches to search for survivors beneath boulders, sand and collapsed tents.

In practice, the Civil Defence service. It operates under the Hamas-run interior ministry, remarked the "humanitarian tragedy" should prompt urgent action by international organisations to provide safe shelters for displaced residents and move tents away from sandy areas, slopes and locations at risk of collapse.

Notably, the Civil Defence remarked water levels reached up to 1.5m (4.9ft) in some places and that its first responders were able to respond to only 10% of the 2, 100 distress calls they received.

"Protecting the lives of displaced individuals is an urgent humanitarian responsibility. Their tents must not become death traps beneath sand and rainwater, " it cautioned. Tens of thousands of tents flooded after heavy rains in Gaza. Funding shortages force World Food Programme to cut Gaza aid.

Eight children among 21 killed after war-damaged Gaza building collapses, rescuers say.

For context, the Civil Defence initially documented on Sunday that three children and two women were killed when the sand embankment collapsed. But the health ministry remarked on Monday morning that only one woman was among the dead.

Mustafa al-Masri informed the BBC that he and other rescuers had employed their bare hands to dig the victims and survivors out of the sand and rubble.

"It was extremely tough. This mound was massive and wide. It collapsed onto the tent, and we didn't know what to do, " he remarked.

"When we obtained here, we, along with the young men from the camp, pulled them out with our own hands. We pulled out the children and the woman."

"Their father arrived shouting, 'My children, my children, my children, my children.' We pulled his children out, put them in the ambulance, and took them to the hospital."

Masri continued that he had been displaced from the northern town of Beit Hanoun but had stayed in central Gaza as there was "nowhere for me to return to".

"We went out looking around, searching through the open areas and hills, but I couldn't find any place other than this area that felt suitable for me."

In practice, the International Organization for Migration's regional crisis co-ordinator, Karl Baker, informed the BBC from Gaza that the territory's 2.1 million population was confined to only 30% of its total area and that numerous individuals were "unfortunately living in areas which would not be normal if we were not in this time of conflict".

As well as improved drainage in camps, to support them secure through the winter, he remarked the UN agency and its partners were trying to produce sure there were enough tents and tarpaulins.

Nevertheless, he cautioned that aid at present getting into Gaza was not sufficient to meet the demands of the population, describing it as "the very smallest of Band-Aids ".

"We need more backing, in-kind donations. We need funding so as to support the communities to assist themselves, " he noted. "We need a lot more to happen."

UN agencies have called on Israeli authorities to allow in the specialist equipment and materials required to improve living conditions for displaced families.

Cogat, the Israeli military body tasked with co-ordinating deliveries, remarked on Sunday that more than 91, 000 tents, 12 vacuum trucks for waste removal, and fuel and engine oil for pumping facilities have been delivered since the start of the "Gaza Winterization Plan".

But it continued that Israel would not permit the entry of equipment that could be employed for military purposes by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

Meanwhile, an estimated 80% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN.

More than 1.9 million individuals have been displaced, numerous of them multiple times, and 1.2 million of them are at present living in tents or makeshift shelters, it states.

As Israeli air strikes and other attacks continue to hit populated areas, causing casualties and property damage and driving further displacement, the UN has cautioned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire agreed in October 2025.

When regarding 1, 200 residents were killed and 251 others were taken hostage, the Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Since then, more than 74, 640 individuals have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. Extra reporting by Malak Hassouneh.

Taken together, the developments around four killed in Gaza after sand embankment collapses onto tents, health ministry point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.