batters the territory. Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since  Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory's residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war. Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, told AFP three children had died from exposure to the cold -- two in Gaza City and one in Khan Yunis in the south. Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel al-Masri, aged nine, and Taim al-Khawaja, who it said was just several months old. Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar had died in the nearby tented encampment of Al-Mawasi due to the cold.

With most of Gaza's buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and makeshift shelters now line areas cleared of rubble. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died when a house collapsed in the Bir al-Naja area of the northern Gaza Strip. Two bodies were recovered from the rubble of a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, he added.  Five others died when walls collapsed in multiple separate incidents, Bassal said. In a statement, the civil defence said its teams had responded to calls from "13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds, mostly in Gaza City and the north". (Bssnews)