GENEVA: The Red Cross said on Monday it has distributed over 300 tents to displacement camps in southern Gaza in recent days but warned that the current supply of shelter materials to the enclave falls far short of urgent needs on the ground.
In addition to the 300 tents, more than 1,500 are expected to be delivered in coming days, the Red Cross added, but said hundreds of thousands of people desperately need new tents or tarpaulins after months of wear and tear on existing supplies.
“Many displaced families are living in appalling conditions — some among the rubble of their destroyed homes, others in makeshift tents constructed from tarpaulins and scrap metal,” Sarah Davies, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Reuters.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Reuters separately that humanitarian groups had sent “a limited number of tents” into Gaza in recent weeks, but many more were needed.
Over 1.3 million Gazans currently lack tents, according to the United Nations, and further displacement is anticipated as Israel conducts a major assault on Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of residents are living among the ruins.
COGAT, the Israeli defense agency that deals with humanitarian issues, told Reuters that 5,000 tents had entered Gaza since restrictions on shelter materials were lifted near the end of August.
Aid organizations say Israel effectively blocked deliveries of materials for shelter for nearly six months, and despite the lifting of the restriction last month, international NGOs such as CARE International, ShelterBox, and the Norwegian Refugee Council reported on Monday they have yet to receive authorization to deliver such materials.
COGAT said: “Every organization that wants to enter tents is absolutely allowed to do so.”
The International Organization for Migration told Reuters it still has about 35,000 tents as well as half a million tarpaulins waiting in Jordan pending customs clearance.
“It’s frustrating. We need political solutions and then you can remove things like customs clearance and then we can move quicker,” said Karl Baker, Regional Crisis Coordinator and head of IOM Gaza Response.
Israel’s assault has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, according to health officials in Gaza.
The war began with an assault by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel in 2023. The attackers killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Some tents enter Gaza but Red Cross says enclave needs many more
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Some tents enter Gaza but Red Cross says enclave needs many more
- In addition to the 300 tents, more than 1,500 are expected to be delivered in coming days, the Red Cross added
- Hundreds of thousands of people desperately need new tents or tarpaulins after months of wear and tear on existing supplies, the Red Cross said
Gaza access: Foreign press group welcomes Israel court deadline
- The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the Supreme Court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM: The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Sunday welcomed the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to set Jan. 4 as the deadline for Israel to respond to its petition seeking media access to Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by the attack on Israel, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Israel has instead allowed, on a case-by-case basis, a handful of reporters to accompany its troops into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the Supreme Court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip.
On Oct. 23, the court held its first hearing in the case and gave Israeli authorities one month to develop a plan to grant access.
Since then, the court has granted several extensions to the Israeli authorities to develop their plan, but on Saturday, it set Jan. 4 as the final deadline.
“If the respondents (Israeli authorities) do not inform us of their position by that date, a decision on the request for a conditional order will be made on the basis of the material in the case file,” the court said.
The FPA welcomed the court’s latest directive.
“After two years of the state’s delay tactics, we are pleased that the court’s patience has finally run out,” the association said in a statement.
“We renew our call for the state of Israel to immediately grant journalists free and unfettered access to the Gaza Strip.
“And should the government continue to obstruct press freedoms, we hope that the Supreme Court will recognize and uphold those freedoms,” it added.
An AFP journalist serves on the FPA board.
Meanwhile, US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday, and charged that the Palestinian group was also consolidating power in Gaza.
“My impression is that Hamas is not disarming, they are rearming,” Graham said in a video statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“It’s my impression that they are trying to consolidate power (and) not give it up in Gaza.”
Graham’s remarks came a day after mediators the US, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkiye urged both sides in the Gaza war to uphold the ceasefire.
Hamas has called on the mediators and Washington to stop Israeli “violations” of the ceasefire.
On Friday, six people, including two children, were killed in an Israeli bombing of a school serving as a shelter for displaced people, according to the civil defense agency in Gaza.
