In brief
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that heavy rains on Friday and Saturday caused extensive flooding and collapsed tents in Gaza, killing at least six people. Humanitarian partners have delivered emergency aid, but supplies of tents, tarpaulins and blankets are virtually exhausted. The UN urges Israel to lift restrictions and for the international community to provide urgent funding to meet the massive needs.
On Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that heavy rains over the weekend had worsened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The storm, which began on Friday evening, caused widespread flooding, damaged shelters and learning spaces, and an infant reportedly drowned in the rising waters.
OCHA said three children and two women were killed when a sandy hill collapsed on their tents, and thousands of families lost their makeshift shelters. Humanitarian partners mobilized immediately to assess needs and distribute emergency supplies, but stocks of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and clothes inside Gaza are “virtually exhausted.”
The UN said its teams are working with too little equipment and too few shelter materials for the scale of the need. They have pumped out water, improved drainage, reinforced displacement sites with sandbags, repaired shelters where possible, and delivered emergency supplies. However, more supplies are required, including vacuum trucks, mobile dewatering pumps, engine oil, hoses and heavy machinery.
Over 150,000 tents purchased by humanitarian partners and UN member states “were outside Gaza ready for dispatch,” OCHA added. The UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Ramiz Alakbarov, said in Ramallah that while rain is natural, people’s vulnerability is man-made. Hostilities have devastated homes and essential infrastructure, and tight Israeli restrictions have limited preparations and access to flood-prone areas.
Alakbarov called for the urgent lifting of all unnecessary restrictions and delays, including those preventing humanitarian organizations from bringing enough supplies into Gaza. OCHA also noted that airstrikes continued to hit populated areas, causing more casualties.”