STRONG winter winds collapsed walls onto flimsy tents for Palestinians displaced by the Israeli war on Gaza, killing at least four people, hospital authorities said on Tuesday.

Dangerous living conditions persist in Gaza after more than two years of devastating Israeli invasion and aid shortfalls. 

A ceasefire has theoretically been in effect since October 10 although the Israelis have routinely broken the truce, killing more than 400 Palestinians in the process. 

Unicef spokesman James Elder said on Tuesday that at least 100 children under the age of 18 — 60 boys and 40 girls — have been killed since the so-called truce began.

The Israelis have also blocked access to Gaza of desperately needed humanitarian aid, meaning Palestinians continue to lack the shelter necessary to withstand frequent winter storms.

The latest deaths include two women, a girl and a man, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies.

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of hypothermia overnight, while the spokesman for the UN children’s agency said over 100 children and teenagers have been killed by “military means” since the ceasefire began.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military said that it exchanged fire on Tuesday with six people spotted near its troops deployed in southern Gaza, killing at least two of them in western Rafah.

Three members of the same family — Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage granddaughter and his daughter-in-law — were killed when a 26-foot high wall collapsed onto their tent in a coastal area along the Mediterranean shore of Gaza City, Shifa Hospital said. At least five others were injured.

Their relatives on Tuesday began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.

“The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms,” Bassel Hamouda said after the funeral. “It’s true that the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip.”

A second woman was killed when a wall fell on her tent in the western part of the city, Shifa Hospital said.

The majority of Palestinians live in makeshift tents since their homes were reduced to rubble during the war. When storms strike the territory, Palestinian rescue workers warn people against seeking shelter inside damaged buildings for fear of their collapse. 

Unicef’s Mr Elder told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva that while “bombings and shootings have slowed during the ceasefire, they have not stopped.”

“So what the world now calls calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else.”