2013 Middle East Cold Snap, Alexa Winter Storm, Cairo, Egypt

The Gaza Strip was lashed by torrential rain for a third day, and its Hamas rulers said that residents had been evacuated from 60 flooded homes since storms hit the coastal territory on December 11.
• Syria
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) issued plans to airlift 40 tonnes of food for 50,000-60,000 people into the northeastern province of Hasakha from Iraq. The UN airlift of urgently needed food for tens of thousands of people in northeastern Syria, originally planned for December 12, was however delayed by snow.
According to Matthew Hollingworth, Syria Country Director for the United Nation’s World Food Programme, most internally displaced Syrians fled their homes with few belongings so they do not even have enough warm clothes or blankets to fend off the freezing weather. They desperately need fuel for heating and to cook the food they receive as humanitarian assistance.” Reportedly, a child and a baby died from the cold on December 12, and an activist in a besieged rebel-held town of Hara said residents were struggling to stay warm with the electricity cut off and no food or fuel allowed in.