United Nations relief agencies stated on Wednesday that families in the Gaza Strip are facing harsh humanitarian conditions that are rapidly deteriorating with the onset of winter.
The agencies reported that the basic infrastructure in the region 'remains destroyed,' and emphasized that shelters in camps and temporary centers 'are extremely fragile and do not provide protection for Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed or who cannot return to their areas.'
The same bodies recorded that more than two million Palestinians are now crowded into less than half the area of the Gaza Strip, while most of the displaced lack adequate shelter materials to protect them from rain and wind, following a war that left widespread destruction in residential areas.
They noted that unstable weather and heavy rains in recent days have led to thousands of tents being flooded, posing a direct threat to families, especially children.
UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at his press conference in New York that many Palestinian families are living in 'poorly equipped shelters, exposed to flooding, which inevitably makes people vulnerable to stormy weather.'
He confirmed that the UN and its partners are doing everything they can to alleviate the problem, but the humanitarian operation 'still faces systematic obstruction of essential supplies,' as well as a ban on the work of major relief organizations, including some non-governmental organizations that are partners of the UN.
Relief organizations warned that worsening winter conditions could increase health risks for the population amid a severe shortage of basic services and ongoing obstruction of aid delivery, while displaced families struggle to adapt to an increasingly harsh humanitarian reality day by day.
Many Palestinian families are living in poorly equipped shelters, exposed to flooding.
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UN agencies: Rain has flooded thousands of tents in Gaza.