Six people have died after a cyclonic storm hit the Gaza Strip on Friday 6 November 2026, bringing with it flooding and landslides. An infant drowned amid rising floodwaters, which reached depths of about 1.5 m in places, and three children and two women were killed when a sand embankment collapsed onto their tent at a displacement camp south of Deir al-Balah. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.
Cyclonic storms are caused by the warming effect of the Sun over tropical seas. As the air warms it expands, causing a drop in air pressure, and rises, causing air from outside the area to rush in to replace it. If this happens over a sufficiently wide area then the inrushing winds will be affected by centrifugal forces caused by the Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect). This means that winds will be deflected clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, eventually creating a large, rotating storm.
Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by such storms.
Such storms are not unusual in the Mediterranean, and many areas have extensive networks of storm drains to carry sudden excessive rainfall away from populated areas. This formerly included the cities of the Gaza Strip, however, much of this network has been damaged or destroyed since the area was occupied by Israel in October 2023, leaving the people there exposed to the dangers of flooding.
The Gaza Strip is one of two territories which make up the State of Palestine, along with the West Bank, the two having been parts of the former British Mandated Palestine, which were separated by the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, which gave the remainder of the territory to the State of Israel in 1947. This plan was never really accepted by either the Palestinian or Israeli leaderships, resulting in a civil war between 1947 and 1948 in which the then new State of Israel siezed the whole territory, with around 700 000 Palestinians being forced into permanent exile. The 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreement gave Palestine back control over a smaller area of Gaza and the West Bank than had originally been assigned to them, with subsequent elections giving power to Fatah, a secular political party aligned with the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
In 2006, a subsequent election led to Fatah losing control to Hamas, a religious party which felt Fatah had been making too many concessions to Israel. Following this election, a US-led coalition encouraged the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to reject the election results, leading to a civil conflict in which Fatah retained control over the West Bank while Hamas gained control over the Gaza Strip, effectively spliting the State of Palestine in two. After this, Israel withdrew its troops from the Gaza Strip, but continued to blockade the enclave, trapping a population of over two million in an area of 365 km².
Between 2007 and 2023, there were a series of small conflicts between Israel and Hamas, mostly comprising of sporadic missile firing by Hamas, countered by air strikes and military incursions into the Gaza Strip by Israel. Notably these conflicts resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties within Gaza, fuelling resentment against Israel, and helping to perpetuate the cycle. This culminated in October 2023, when Hamas's paramilitary wing launched a major incursion into Israel, hitting civilian communities as well as military targets, resulting in over 1300 casualties and many hostigaes being taken.
Following these events, Israel launched a major military assault on the Gaza Strip, which has destroyed most of the enclave's infrastructure and killed more than 93 000 people. Although a ceasefire has officially been in place since October 2025, there has been no end to the conflict, nor is there any clear indication on how this could be reached. Some Israeli (and American) politicians have talked openly about permanently annexing the Gaza Strip and removing its Palestinian population.
These events have widespread condemnation around the world, with numerous large protests taking place in countries which have traditionally alied themselves with Israel in Western Europe and North America. However, few governments have been receptive to this criticism, with many continuing to provide military support to Israel, whilst at the same time clamping down on protests at home. This has been particularly true in the UK where large numbers of peaceful protestors have been detained under counter terrorism legislation.
As well as the damage to the storm drain infrastructure, hundreds of kilometres of sewage pipelines have been destroyed, and many people have reported homes and temporary dwellings being flooded by water contaminated with sewage. This places people at a high risk of waterborne diseases, particularly Cholera, which is notoriously hazardous to people living in confined conditions.
Cholera is an acute enteric infection caused by ingesting the Bacterium Vibrio cholerae a Gram-negative, comma-shaped Gammaproteobacterium, related to other pathogenic Bacteria such as Yersinia pestis (Bubonic Plague), and Esherchia coli (food poisoning), which present in contaminated water or food. It is mainly linked to insufficient access to safe drinking water and inadequate sanitation. Cholera is an extremely virulent disease that can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea resulting in high morbidity and mortality, and can spread rapidly, depending on the frequency of exposure, the exposed population and the setting. Cholera affects both children and adults and can be fatal if untreated.
The incubation period is between 12 hours and five days after ingestion of contaminated food or water. Most people infected with Vibrio cholerae do not develop any symptoms, although the bacteria are present in their faeces for 1-10 days after infection and are shed back into the environment, potentially infecting other people. The majority of people who develop symptoms have mild or moderate symptoms, while a minority develop acute watery diarrhoea and vomiting with severe dehydration. Cholera is an easily treatable disease. Most people can be treated successfully through prompt administration of oral rehydration solution.
The consequences of a Humanitarian crisis, such as disruption of water and sanitation systems, or the displacement of populations towards inadequate and overcrowded camps, can increase the risk of Cholera transmission, should the Bacteria be present or introduced. A multisectoral approach including a combination of surveillance, water, sanitation and hygiene, social mobilization, treatment, and oral Cholera vaccines is essential to control Cholera outbreaks and to reduce deaths.
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