Some tents enter Gaza but Red Cross says enclave needs many more

The Red Cross says it has distributed over 300 tents to displacement camps in southern Gaza in recent days, but warns that the current supply of shelter materials in the enclave falls far short of urgent needs on the ground.

Another 1,500 tents are expected to be delivered in the coming days, in addition to the 300, the Red Cross adds, but it says hundreds of thousands of people desperately need new tents or tarpaulins after months of wear and tear on existing supplies.

“Many displaced families are living in appalling conditions — some among the rubble of their destroyed homes, others in makeshift tents constructed from tarpaulins and scrap metal,” Sarah Davies, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, tells Reuters.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tells Reuters separately that humanitarian groups had sent “a limited number of tents” into Gaza in recent weeks, but many more were needed.

Over 1.3 million Gazans currently lack tents, according to the United Nations, and further displacement is anticipated as Israel conducts a major offensive in Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of residents are living among the ruins.

COGAT, the Israeli defense agency that is in charge of civilian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, tells Reuters that 5,000 tents have entered Gaza since restrictions on shelter materials were lifted near the end of August.

Aid organizations say Israel effectively blocked deliveries of materials for shelter for nearly six months, and despite the lifting of the restriction last month, international NGOs such as CARE International, ShelterBox, and the Norwegian Refugee Council report on Monday that they have yet to receive authorization to deliver such materials.

However, COGAT says, “Every organization that wants to enter tents is absolutely allowed to do so.”