GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has accused Israel of persisting in depriving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of safe shelter for the fourth consecutive year.
Around two million people need shelter aid after Israel destroyed or damaged most homes across Gaza, Euro-Med said in a press release on Thursday.
“Israel continues to prevent displaced people from returning to areas under its control and to block the entry of shelter supplies and materials needed to repair homes. As a result, hundreds of thousands of families face another winter in worn-out tents and cracked buildings at risk of collapse,” Euro-Med explained.
“Despite repeated deaths and warnings about the dangers of cold and flooding, the continued denial of protective measures perpetuates the destructive living conditions Israel is imposing on the population as part of the ongoing genocide,” Euro-Med underlined.
“The Gaza Strip is entering winter in urgent need of around 200,000 tents and one million tarps, according to the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee on 1 November. Israeli restrictions are preventing these supplies from being delivered and affecting items already prepared to help the population. On October 9, the International Organization for Migration said around 8,600 emergency shelter kits were ready outside Gaza, but Israeli authorities continue to refuse them entry,” the rights group elaborated.
The rights group noted that on October 5, the Norwegian Refugee Council estimated that around 950,000 Gazans were in areas at medium or high risk of flooding.
It stressed the need for Israel, as an occupying power, to ensure the Gaza population’s basic needs are met and to agree to and facilitate relief operations, without conditioning them on political or security arrangements or concessions from any party.
“Allowing some tents in does not absolve Israel of responsibility for obstructing the quantities and types needed to protect the population. Compliance with its obligations depends on whether actual needs are met in a timely manner, not simply on the number of shipments permitted,” it stressed.
