Aid groups warn Israel blocking all shelter supplies for Gaza
Agencies say that Israel is stalling shipments with trivial clearance demands
International aid agencies said on 20 August that they have not been able to deliver shelter materials into Gaza, despite Israeli claims last month that restrictions on such supplies had been lifted.
Officials from five organizations, including UN bodies, told Reuters that Israeli bureaucratic obstacles remain in place.
Spokesperson Jens Laerke of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, “The United Nations and our partners have ... not been able to bring in shelter materials following the Israeli announcement. There’s a set of impediments that still needs to be addressed, including Israeli customs clearance.”
CARE International, ShelterBox, and the Norwegian Refugee Council confirmed that they have yet to receive authorizations to deliver materials, while others are still unable to get clearance.
Speaking near the Rafah crossing, Executive Director of the Egyptian Red Crescent Amal Emam told CNN correspondent Becky Anderson in an interview that a truck carrying critical equipment had been repeatedly blocked despite urgent medical needs.
“This truck has been rejected four times,” said Emam. “It's carrying ICU beds coming from the WHO [World Health Organization].”
She then showed Anderson a warehouse packed with medical supplies that Israel refused to let through, describing the daily struggle to deliver aid into Gaza, with hundreds of trucks loaded with medicine, oxygen tanks, and other lifesaving materials stalled or turned back as the humanitarian crisis deepens for trivial or overly technical reasons.
The UN estimates that over 1.3 million Palestinians are without tents, with more displacement expected as Israeli operations expand toward Gaza City, with the aim of fully occupying it.
Israel’s military agency COGAT said on Saturday that shelter materials would be permitted through the Kerem Shalom crossing after inspection.
The Red Cross confirmed it had received authorization to use the Jordanian corridor to Kerem Shalom, but warned of remaining “many challenges.” CARE International, however, said it has received no confirmation of any policy change.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said it applied to deliver 3,000 tents across Gaza, including to the north, but is still awaiting a response. Aid groups also object to new Israeli demands that require them to register and disclose information about Palestinian staff – a condition imposed in March.
ShelterBox’s regional director, Haroon Altaf, said limiting permission to a select few groups would be insufficient.
“If it’s only a handful of organizations that can bring shelter aid in, it doesn’t really change much, and it’s deeply concerning. People are going to die because of it,” he warned.
Displaced Palestinians have been enduring severe conditions without proper shelter. Fifty-five-year-old Ibrahim Tabassi expressed that life inside his tent was unbearable, with no proper facilities and extreme heat – while other residents described using the same ‘worn out’ tent since the beginning of the Israeli attack on Gaza.