Hamas civil defense agency: Thousands of tents flooded in Gaza amid Storm Byron

A man sets up his makeshift shop along a flooded road in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on December 10, 2025 (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
A man sets up his makeshift shop along a flooded road in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on December 10, 2025 (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

Hamas’s civil defense agency warns Gazans of flash floods and tents being blown away as Storm Byron hits Gaza, particularly in the coastal Mawasi area near Khan Younis in the Strip’s south.

The agency calls on displaced people to dig drainage ditches near their tents.

Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal, who has been accused by Israel of being a Hamas terrorist, tells Qatari network Alaraby TV that the civil defense agency has fielded about 1,000 weather-related calls across the Strip since dawn, and that thousands of tents have been flooded.

He calls for the entry of mobile housing into the Strip to replace the tents.

In Gaza City, Mayor Yahya al-Sarraj tells Al Jazeera that rising water levels have led to road closures and the flooding of displaced peoples’ shelters.

The Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network shows a displaced peoples’ encampment inundated with muddy water.

The displaced people, including children, are seen digging channels around the tents and trying to drain away the water with buckets and dishpans.

“We’ll die within three days” if the condition doesn’t change, says an unnamed man speaking to the outlet.

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