Five displaced Palestinians, including three children, were killed on Sunday evening when a rain-soaked sand cliff collapsed onto tents sheltering families at a displacement camp south of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense, said the cliff gave way at a shelter centre in the Ard el-Rebat camp, burying tents where displaced families were living. Rescuers recovered the bodies of two women and three children from beneath the sand, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. Five other people were injured, and rescue teams were continuing to search for anyone still missing.

A video circulating on social media showed dozens of men at the scene, some trying to lift a large stone slab while others dug beneath it with shovels, as families searched for survivors with their bare hands.

Heavy rain had already flooded 70,000 tents

The collapse came during the first heavy storm of the winter, which had already flooded tens of thousands of makeshift shelters across Gaza. The Hamas-run government media office said about 70,000 tents sheltering displaced families were flooded on the first day of the rains, and dozens of cracked walls and roofs collapsed, causing injuries, some of them critical.

Since early Saturday, hundreds of displaced families have been seen fleeing camps in parts of Gaza City and in the central and northern areas of the territory after their shelters were inundated by rainwater.

Civil Defense warned displaced people against setting up tents or remaining near sand masses and elevated soil mounds, particularly during periods of rainfall, saying they pose a real threat to life. The agency called on humanitarian organisations to provide the equipment needed to reach people trapped in such incidents.

Hamas blames Israel as families face winter in tents

Hamas said on Monday that it held Israel fully responsible for the deaths, arguing that the blockade and restrictions on the entry of tents, shelter supplies and construction materials had left displaced families living in unsafe conditions. The movement said the war had forced more than two million Palestinians to flee their homes and confined them to a small part of the territory, leaving them in overcrowded camps without basic safety measures.

Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war, and many families are living in tents or other makeshift shelters after huge swathes of the territory were destroyed. A fragile ceasefire has been in effect since 10 October, although the Israeli army has continued strikes and ground operations against what it says are Hamas operatives on an almost daily basis.

Xinhua reported the same toll, confirming that the cliff collapsed on tents at a shelter centre because of heavy rain and that rescue teams were still searching for missing people. Civil Defense said its warning about tents near sand embankments remains in force as the storm continues.