In the midst of the frigid temperatures, the Gaza Government Media Office reported on Monday that thousands of Palestinian families are sleeping outside in the open.
“Securing shelters has become a pressing humanitarian need that cannot be ignored. It is the most pressing need at this moment”, the office said in a statement.
In the upcoming aid shipments, it urged the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation, which has been coordinating aid to Palestinians, to include tents along with food and other humanitarian supplies.
Following the month-long truce between Israel and Hamas, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have since retreated to the north of the country.
Many people discovered that many of their homes had been demolished as a result of Israel’s destruction of Gaza City and northern towns like Jabalia and Beit Hanoon.
The government media office later claimed that Israel had violated the January 19 ceasefire agreement by limiting the flow of aid and shelters to the territory.
According to the agreement, 60 000 trailers and 200 000 tents must enter Gaza to provide housing for Palestinians who have been left homeless by Israeli bombing.
The agreement also mandates that Israel provide equipment for the removal of the rubble to Gaza, according to the office.
However, it claimed that the Israeli occupation is preventing the Gaza Strip’s humanitarian crisis and causing the Palestinians’ suffering. “This will have dangerous and unprecedented implications”.
Later on Tuesday, World Food Programme official Antoine Renard reported that aid to Gaza had increased, but that some Israeli restrictions, including those relating to items that were “dual use” for both civilian and military purposes, were still in place.
According to Renard, “This is a reminder to you that many items that are dual use need to also enter Gaza, such as tents and medical supplies,” the Reuters news agency reported.
In response to the region’s extensive destruction, US President Donald Trump has been calling for the displacement of Gaza’s entire population.
Trump’s proposal, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing, has been forcefully rejected by Arab states.
Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with the US president at the White House on Tuesday. The ceasefire’s viability would be the subject of the meeting.
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. It is unlike anything you have ever seen. No, he told White House reporters with no assurances that the negotiations will continue.
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.
He told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem, “I’ve been saying since day one that Netanyahu and the thugs in the coalition and the government are not really interested in a ceasefire or rescuing the lives of thousands of Palestinians,” he said.
Source: Aljazeera
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