Key Takeaways:
- COGAT, the Israeli Ministry of Defense body responsible for humanitarian coordination in Palestinian areas, says over 91,000 tents and 8,200 trucks of winter supplies entered Gaza between September and the recent storm.
- Palestinian activists reported that Hamas had violently threatened officials against undertaking construction projects without the terror group’s approval, hampering attempts to build durable shelters for the upcoming winter.
- Despite the existence of heavy digging equipment in the Gaza Strip, Hamas took no precautionary measures before the arrival of the rainstorm.
Several media organizations have pointed the accusatory finger at Israel as the singular cause of the destruction and sorrow that came in the wake of the recent rainstorm that hit the Gaza Strip and flooded displaced Palestinians in their tents.
CNN focused on Israel not letting construction materials and vehicles into the coastal enclave (as these have dual-use purposes and can be co-opted by Hamas) while the BBC quoted a UN official who also blamed the damage on Israeli restrictions. Similarly, Al Jazeera echoed Hamas’ claim that Israel was “fully responsible” for the “disaster” that had taken place in the Gaza Strip as Reuters also gave the internationally-designated terror organization space to lay blame at the feet of the Jewish state.
However, while it is easy for Hamas, the United Nations, and certain media outlets to find Israel at fault for the suffering of displaced Gazans during the heavy rains that hit the Gaza Strip over the weekend, this is far from an accurate portrayal of who is aiding the people of Gaza to protect themselves from the rain and cold and who is leaving them to brave the elements alone.
Since September 4, 2026, roughly two months before the recent storm, COGAT (the Israeli Ministry of Defense body responsible for humanitarian coordination in Palestinian areas) has been posting on social media the steps it was taking in anticipation of the upcoming winter in the Gaza Strip.
These steps, taken in coordination with a variety of international aid organizations, included facilitating the entry of tents and shelter equipment, engine oil, generators and lights, medical equipment and supplies, tarpaulins, winter clothing, vacuum trucks, portable toilets, and spare vehicle parts.
By the time the storm arrived this past weekend, COGAT affirmed that over 91,000 tents and 8,200 trucks full of winter necessities had entered the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the winterization campaign in September.
In addition to the importation of items intended to keep Gazans safe during the winter months, COGAT stated that it was aiding in the repair of Gaza’s infrastructure, including the “drainage of sewage channels,” road repairs, and fixing the water and electricity infrastructure.
Alongside its general winterization efforts, COGAT announced in the days leading up to the arrival of the recent rainfall that it was increasing its efforts to provide for the local Gazan population, including the entry of more vacuum trucks (which facilitate sewage pumping) and the continued improvement of the territory’s electrical and water systems.
The steps undertaken by COGAT since September do not show a state that is vindictively keeping winter necessities away from Palestinian civilians in order to torment them. Rather, they show that Israel has gone above and beyond what is required of it in order to assist Gazans in facing the wet and cold of winter while in the difficult position of ensuring that Hamas is not able to rebuild its terror infrastructure.
At the same time that COGAT has been assisting in the winterization of the Gaza Strip, there are reports that Hamas has effectively been working against the interests of local Gazans in this regard.
According to both Palestinian-American activist and analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib and Palestinian activist Ihab Hassan, there were reports that emerged from Gaza about how Hamas had purposefully stymied efforts to prepare the war-torn enclave for the coming winter weather.
According to these reports, Hamas obstructed construction projects in Gaza and used violence to threaten Palestinian Authority officials that no work was to be done without the terror group’s approval. This led to the blocking of a project meant to increase the number of fiberglass dwellings inside the Gaza Strip. At the same time that Hamas was reportedly blocking these construction projects, it was also alleged to have blocked any efforts to demolish heavily damaged buildings, claiming that the coming winter weather would do the job, even though these buildings posed a direct threat to nearby civilians.
In an earlier post on social media, Alkhatib also made the case that, despite there being excavators and bulldozers in Gaza, Hamas made no effort to dig drainage ditches or perform any other pre-emptive actions before the heavy rains arrived in Gaza.
Despite the fact that Israel is busy enabling the winterization of Gaza in conjunction with international agencies while, at the same time, Hamas is not only doing nothing to aid Gaza’s two million residents but is actively blocking any construction projects that may benefit them, Israel has received the blame for the Gazan flooding while Hamas gets off scot-free.
Once again, the media and NGOs prefer the anti-Israel narrative where the Jewish state is the cause of all the troubles in the Gaza Strip while a blind eye is turned away from Hamas’ nefarious activities.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
