A man was found dead Friday morning in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood with signs of severe hypothermia, as meteorological services predicted the torrential rains that Storm Byron has swept over Israel would let up by noon.
The death, at least the second from the winter storm that has brought fierce rains to Israel over the latter half of the week, was reported as search and rescue efforts took place across the country, with more than 100 people brought to safety in the south. In Gaza, 11 Palestinians were reported dead over the course of the storm as tent cities flooded.
The man who was found in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah by a Magen David Adom paramedic team was declared dead at the scene. Paramedics said that they saw “a man around 50 lying unconscious in a puddle” on the road, noting that he was cold to the touch.
He is the second person to die of hypothermia during Byron. On Thursday, a 53-year-old man was found dead in his home with signs of hypothermia after his neighbors alerted medics.
Meanwhile, the search continued for 19-year-old Eliyahu Abba Shaul, who went missing in Bnei Brak. He left home Thursday evening and has not been heard from since.
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Dan Region police officers are working with rescue teams and volunteers to find the missing teen.
They said that their efforts are concentrated along the Yarkon River, after authorities found his clothes and motorized bicycle on the riverbank in neighboring Ramat Gan.
A photo of Eliyahu Abba Shaul, a 19-year-old who went missing in the Tel Aviv area amid winter storm Byron (left). Authorities searching for the teen (right) on December 12, 2025. (Israel Police)
Later on Friday, a ZAKA team rescued a woman by boat from the Yarkon River after she had been missing in the water. She was pulled from the water exhausted, showing signs of hypothermia, and transferred for further medical treatment.
In Beit Shemesh, bystanders saved two children who were nearly swept away in a flooded canal. The pair, ages 5 and 6, were found in mild condition and suffered from minor frostbite, paramedics said.
Rain was expected to continue Friday morning, particularly in the central and northern Negev region. Thunderstorms were still possible until around noon, and the risk of local flooding remained, particularly along the southern coastal plain, Judean Desert and Dead Sea areas.
But the storm was expected to let up later on Friday and give way to slightly warmer, milder weather.
A thunderstorm is seen over a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Zawayda, central Gaza Strip, December 10, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The storm hit Gaza particularly hard, with Hamas authorities warning the public that heavy rain could lead to the collapse of buildings that had withstood the two-year war. According to UN figures, roughly 40 percent of the surviving structures in the Strip are severely or moderately damaged.
Five people were killed and others wounded by the collapse of a house in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported, citing a source in the emergency services.
Further south in the Strip, a baby girl and a 9-year-old girl died of cold exposure in separate displaced people’s camps, the Qatar-based network reported, citing a source in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
The baby was identified as Taim Al-Khawaja. Her precise age is unclear. She reportedly died in the coastal Shati refugee camp. The 9-year-old, Hadeel Hamdan, reportedly died in a displaced persons’ site in western Gaza City.
WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, said two people were killed early today when a large wall collapsed on their tent camp in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood.
جراء العاصفة الجوية.. لقطات توثق انهيار منزل متصدع فوق رؤوس ساكنيه في شمالي قطاع #غزة #الجزيرة #ألبوم pic.twitter.com/t5bqoleQAT
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) December 12, 2025
Eleven people have died in total from weather-related causes in Gaza since Thursday, WAFA said. The Hamas-run civil defense agency reported that at least 10 buildings had collapsed across Gaza on Friday, and that civil defense teams had to rescue people trapped under the buildings in two cases.
The agency has warned displaced Gazans whose tents flooded not to seek refuge in buildings that were bombed by Israel and are liable to collapse due to the heavy rain.
Fire and Rescue Services operate in the coastal city of Ashkelon during widespread flooding in southern Israel overnight on December 12, 2025. (Courtesy/Fire and Rescue Service)
In southern Israel, Fire and Rescue Service teams were stretched thin amid intense flooding. They carried out 58 separate rescue operations in the region, a spokesperson said, saving over 100 people trapped in flooded buildings and vehicles.
Southern District rescue forces operated in Ashkelon, Beit Shikma, Kiryat Gat and Nehora, where teams were engaged in rescuing residents and handling accidents caused by the flooding.
In Beit Shikma, MDA paramedics set up an ad hoc first aid tent to treat residents suffering from frostbite. Seven were taken to the hospital, including one man who sustained moderate injuries. The other six were in mild condition.
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