By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -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 (OCHA) 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 defence 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.
However, COGAT said: “Every organization that wants to enter tents is absolutely allowed to do so.”
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.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by William Maclean)
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