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Government Media Office says securing temporary shelters is the ‘most pressing’ humanitarian need in Gaza.
Published On 3 Feb 2025
Local authorities in the Gaza Strip have called on donors and aid groups to prioritise sending tents and temporary shelters to help house people whose homes have been destroyed by Israel.
The Gaza Government Media Office said on Monday that thousands of Palestinian families across the enclave are sleeping out in the open amid the frigid temperatures.
“Securing shelters has become an urgent humanitarian need that cannot be delayed. It is the most pressing need at this moment,” the office said in a statement.
It urged the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation, which has been helping coordinate aid to Palestinians, to include tents alongside food and other humanitarian supplies in the coming assistance shipments.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to the north of the territory after the truce reached between Israel and Hamas last month.
But many found that their homes have been turned to rubble as Israel levelled entire neighbourhoods in Gaza City and northern towns like Jabalia and Beit Hanoon.
The Government Media Office later accused Israel of restricting the flow of aid and shelters to the territory in violation of the ceasefire deal that went into effect on January 19.
It said the agreement stipulates that 60,000 trailers and 200,000 tents must enter Gaza to help house Palestinians rendered homeless by Israeli bombing.
According to the office, the deal also requires Israel to allow equipment to help clear the rubble to reach Gaza.
“But the Israeli occupation is putting obstacles and delaying the execution of the agreement, escalating the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip,” it said. “This will have dangerous and unprecedented implications.”
Later on Tuesday, World Food Programme official Antoine Renard said there had been a surge in aid to Gaza but suggested that some Israeli restrictions remained, including on items deemed to be “dual use” for civilian and military purposes.
“This is a reminder to you that many of the items that are dual use need also to enter into Gaza like medical and also tents,” Renard was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
United States President Donald Trump has been calling for displacing the entire population of Gaza, citing the widespread destruction in the territory.
Trump’s proposal, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing, has been forcefully rejected by Arab states.
The US president is set to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday. The meeting would come amid concerns over the durability of the ceasefire.
The initial 42-day truce, which will see the release of 33 Israeli captives and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, expires on March 1.
The second stage, which would see the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the freeing of all captives, has not been finalised.
On Monday, Trump – who has repeatedly taken credit for helping broker the deal – said he has “no assurances” that the fighting will not resume.
“I’ve seen people brutalised. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. No, I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” he told reporters at the White House.
Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli parliament and a vocal critic of Israel’s abuses against Palestinians, said it was “terrifying” that talks over the second stage have not begun.
“I’ve been saying since day one that Netanyahu and the thugs around him in the coalition and the government are not really interested in a ceasefire or saving the Israeli hostages – let alone saving the lives of thousands of Palestinians,” he told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem.
Israel has killed nearly 62,000 Palestinians, including thousands who are missing and presumed dead, during the war that started in October 2023.
