Dozens of Palestinians from Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday demonstrated in front of UNRWA offices to demand that the UN agency repair their homes following a four-day storm which caused widespread damage in the coastal territory.

Thirty-five families from the refugee camp in northern Gaza are living in a UNRWA-run school because their homes were completely destroyed, while rainwater flooded dozens more homes in the camp causing major damage.

“UNRWA threatened to evacuate us, but we have no other place to go,” one of the protesters told Ma’an.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine released a statement Wednesday urging UNRWA to support refugees affected by the winter storm.

Between 10,000 to 40,000 people in Gaza were forced to leave their homes following severe flooding.

UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness said that large regions of the Gaza Strip were a “disaster area” following the storm, with rescue operations severely hampered by electricity and fuel shortages as a result of the Israeli blockade.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)