STEPHANE Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, says more temporary housing and other shelters being held up by Israel need to reach the suffering people of Gaza.
The comments come after at least six Palestinian infants died from hypothermia during a severe cold spell in the Gaza Strip.
“My understanding from our humanitarian colleagues is that there’s been a lot of challenges in getting tents and caravans and tarpaulins in. We continue to push. Some are going in but we need more,” Dujarric told reporters.
The deaths of the children come as Israel continues to block the entry of temporary housing into Gaza, despite agreeing to allow it under the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Tens of thousands of mobile homes remain stranded at the Rafah crossing with Egypt awaiting Israeli authorisation.
Meanwhile, about 600,000 Palestinians who returned to northern Gaza following the ceasefire are struggling to restore their lives after Israel’s war left the area almost completely destroyed.
Throughout the war, Israeli forces were consistently accused of deliberately blowing up homes and vital infrastructure in order to make it impossible for Palestinians to return and begin the process of recovery after the fighting ended.
“Some people wish the war had never ended, feeling it would have been better to be killed,” Rawia Tambora said. “I don’t know what we’ll do long term. My brain stopped planning for the future.”
A 20-year-old student named Huda Skaik said that the “worst part is that we’re just now grasping that we lost it all.”
