The Ministry of Social Development in the Gaza Strip has warned of a worsening humanitarian situation for displaced people after rainwater flooded thousands of tents and temporary shelters, stressing that the lives of thousands of families and children, especially orphans and families who have lost their breadwinner, are under threat from the cold and the absence of basic necessities of life.
In a statement, the ministry called on international bodies and UN institutions to act immediately to implement infrastructure projects in the Strip and to allow the entry of equipment and materials needed to repair networks and rehabilitate affected areas, in order to limit the repeated flooding of displacement camps with every weather depression.
It called for accelerating the entry of mobile homes (caravans) to provide safe shelter for displaced people who have lost their homes, and for ending reliance on fabric tents that can no longer provide protection from weather fluctuations and air depressions.
The ministry noted that the shelter crisis has intensified as a result of the Israeli occupation army's moving of the so-called Yellow Line and the reduction of areas available for displacement, which has led to overcrowding of tents and worsened the suffering of families and orphans in areas lacking the minimum of equipment and infrastructure.
The ministry also called on local, Arab and international media to intensify press coverage of the tent flooding crisis and the deterioration of shelter conditions, and to convey the scale of humanitarian suffering in the Strip to the world, in order to press for the provision of protection and urgent aid.
It held UN-affiliated bodies and relief and international organizations responsible for the lives of displaced people, especially children and orphans, calling for the opening of crossings and the establishment of safe, equipped shelter centers to protect them from the repercussions of the winter season.
