16 perish as heavy rains batter Gaza

GAZA, Dec 13 (AFP): Gaza's civil defence agency on Friday said at least 16 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm batters the territory.
Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory's residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war.
Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, told AFP three children had died from exposure to the cold -- two in Gaza City and one in Khan Yunis in the south.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel al-Masri, aged nine, and Taim al-Khawaja, who it said was just several months old.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar had died in the nearby tented encampment of Al-Mawasi due to the cold.
With most of Gaza's buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and makeshift shelters now line areas cleared of rubble.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died when a house collapsed in the Bir al-Naja area of the northern Gaza Strip.
Two bodies were recovered from the rubble of a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, he added.
Five others died when walls collapsed in multiple separate incidents, Bassal said.
In a statement, the civil defence said its teams had responded to calls from "13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds, mostly in Gaza City and the north".
Under gloomy skies in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians used bowls, buckets and hoes to try and remove the water that had pooled around their tents made of plastic sheeting.
Young children, some barefoot and others wearing open sandals, trudged and hopped through ponds of muddy water as the rain continued to fall.
"The mattress has been soaked since this morning, and the children slept in wet bedding last night," Umm Muhammad Joudah told AFP.
"We don't have any dry clothes to change into." Saif Ayman, a 17-year-old who was on crutches due to a leg injury, said his tent had also been submerged.
"In this tent we have no blankets. There are six of us sleeping on one mattress, and we cover ourselves with our clothes," he said.