The European Union’s humanitarian aid arm has warned that winterisation efforts in Gaza are “far behind” schedule as seasonal rains approach, saying 94 percent of households in the territory lack basic shelter and non-food items, calling the situation “a race against time”.
– “Conditions are critical & rains could flood overcrowded sites with waste & sewage,” the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department wrote on X, calling for shelter, clean water, waste management and full humanitarian access.
– The warning follows a report published earlier in August by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which found that about 1.98 million Palestinians in Gaza lack adequate shelter, with nearly two-thirds of households living in tents or makeshift structures never designed for long-term use.
– OCHA said 2.1 million people need shelter, essential household items or protection from strikes and gunfire, and estimated $562m in funding is needed to close the gap. It said materials to repair and rebuild homes still cannot enter Gaza at the scale required, nearly a year after a “ceasefire” took effect.
– Previous winters in Gaza have seen flooding destroy tens of thousands of tents and contribute to deaths from cold exposure.
https://aje.news/y0bkmt?update=4916642