Families in Gaza patch torn shelters as rain exposes the misery and dangers of life in flimsy tents

LONDON: Jehad Al-Jarbou’s young son danced in the rain, but inside the family’s tent in Gaza City water soaked their clothes and blankets.

For the little boy, his mother said, the downpour was a discovery. For Al-Jarbou, a Palestinian visual artist and poet, it exposed how little stood between her family and the harsh effects of the approaching winter.

“My son began dancing in the rain but now he is ill because we do not have adequate heating or proper clothes,” she told Arab News.

“A little child feels joy when he looks up at the sky and sees the rain. But the rain has drenched everything: his clothes, his bedding and his dreams.”