SEVERAL countries in the Middle East and Asia have called on Israel to allow “immediate, full, and unhindered” deliveries of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as winter storms lash the bombarded Palestinian enclave.
In a statement on Friday, the foreign ministers of Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia warned that “deteriorating” conditions in Gaza had left nearly 1.9 million displaced Palestinians particularly vulnerable.
“Flooded camps, damaged tents, the collapse of damaged buildings, and exposure to cold temperatures coupled with malnutrition, have significantly heightened risks to civilian lives,” the statement reads.
They called on the international community “to pressure Israel, as the occupying power, to immediately lift constraints on the entry and distribution of essential supplies including tents, shelter materials, medical assistance, clean water, fuel, and sanitation support”.
Israel has maintained stringent restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza despite its obligations under international law to ensure that the basic needs of Palestinians in the enclave are met.
A United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect in October, also stipulated that the Israeli authorities must allow hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza daily.
But Israel has failed to abide by that requirement, continuing to block deliveries despite increasingly difficult winter conditions in the coastal territory and a lack of adequate shelter, blankets and other supplies.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families have sought refuge in makeshift shelters and overcrowded tent encampments across Gaza because their homes were destroyed in Israel’s genocidal war.
Several people were killed in recent weeks as damaged buildings collapsed under the weight of heavy rainfall and flooding. Palestinian children have also died from hypothermia as low temperatures continue to grip the enclave.
Separately on Friday, Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and injured several others west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital said.
Four Palestinians, including a woman and two children, were seriously wounded after an Israeli drone fired a grenade at a tent housing displaced people in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Strip, a source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera.
