Bonn – November 10, 2026 -- Weekend rains destroyed 250 tents and badly damaged 500 more at a single Gaza camp, Welthungerhilfe said, as the German aid organization urged the Bundestag to raise humanitarian funding to €2.8 billion.
Half of Gaza's displacement camps sit in high flood-risk zones
About half of the camps, which house nearly one million people, lie in areas with a high risk of flooding, according to Welthungerhilfe Secretary General Mathias Mogge. Some sites are low-lying sandy ground where water collects quickly and ruins tarps, mattresses and food. Others have clay soils that turn into mud flats, destroying belongings and flooding latrines.
Welthungerhilfe operates a bread-baking oven at the Al Ard Al Tayyeba camp in Khan Younis, where 800 families have taken shelter. The 250 destroyed and 500 badly damaged tents were all at that site.
Funding gaps left shelters unprepared for winter
Mogge visited Gaza a few weeks ago and said residents warned him that winter rains posed a major threat. He saw that tents and tarps had become brittle and unstable. Unlike in previous years, there has been almost no support to winterize shelters, because both residents and aid organizations lacked money, he said.
Welthungerhilfe moves supplies from Jordan and redirects planned funds
The organization is working to bring mattresses and plastic sheeting from Jordan into the Gaza Strip. It is also reallocating funds that were already planned for other uses to help affected people. Women and children are suffering most under the conditions, Mogge said.
Bundestag urged to lift humanitarian budget on November 12
Welthungerhilfe argues that military security spending is rising sharply while support for people in need continues to be cut. It wants the Bundestag to reverse that course at its budget reconciliation session on November 12 and raise humanitarian aid funding to €2.8 billion.