Heavy rain has flooded tens of thousands of tents housing displaced Palestinians across Gaza, washing away shelters and soaking blankets and mattresses, local authorities said on Saturday.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said at least 70,000 tents had been flooded in the previous 12 hours, affecting tens of thousands of displaced people and causing injuries, although no deaths had been reported. The territory's civil defence service said it had received 1,500 distress calls from displaced residents.

Tents washed out

Most of Gaza's more than two million residents have been displaced during the war, and many are living in tents and makeshift shelters in encampments across the territory.

Hamas blamed Israel for not allowing shelters and construction materials into Gaza. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, did not immediately comment on the accusations.

Aid response hampered

Authorities said Israel had destroyed hundreds of vehicles, including bulldozers and other machinery used to pump water, during the war. The agency said four additional vacuum trucks entered Gaza this week through the International Committee of the Red Cross, joining eight others brought in over the past month to support sewage pumping, weekly waste removal and repairs to water and sewage infrastructure.

He said responsibility lay not only with Israel but also with international bodies, including the Board of Peace and its representative Nikolay Mladenov.

Reconstruction stalled

A US-brokered ceasefire last year called for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza, but little progress has been made. Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its assault after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.