Deadly Gaza Floods Destroy Shelters as UN Warns Aid Is Running Out
(MENAFN) Torrential weekend rains tore through Gaza, killing at least six people according to partner reports, wrecking shelters and leaving relief stocks nearly empty, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday.
The downpour began Friday evening. It caused widespread flooding, damaged humanitarian facilities and learning spaces, and disrupted essential services, OCHA said, laying bare how flimsy the shelters are. An infant reportedly drowned. Three children and two women died when a sandy hill collapsed onto their tents. Thousands of families lost their shelters and belongings, the office said, citing partner reports.
Aid workers moved fast, but supplies ran short.
“Humanitarian partners mobilized immediately to assess people’s needs, distribute emergency supplies and otherwise support those affected,” OCHA said. “Nevertheless, humanitarian stocks of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and clothes inside Gaza are virtually exhausted.”
The world body and its partners pumped out floodwater, upgraded drainage, shored up displacement sites with sandbags, repaired shelters where possible and delivered emergency goods to affected families, the office said. “But our teams are working with far too little equipment and too few shelter materials for the scale of the need.”
OCHA said that more funding and Israeli approvals are urgently needed to bring in enough supplies and machinery, including vacuum trucks, mobile dewatering pumps, engine oil, hoses and heavy equipment. More than 150,000 tents bought by humanitarian partners and UN member states “were outside Gaza ready for dispatch,” it noted.
Speaking Monday in Ramallah, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Ramiz Alakbarov, said the rain is a natural event but people’s vulnerability is man-made. He said hostilities have devastated homes and vital infrastructure, while tight Israeli restrictions have curbed preparations and blocked access to areas away from the flood-prone shoreline. Most residents are sheltering in worn-out tents that would buckle in what would count as a moderate storm elsewhere.
Alakbarov urged the immediate removal of all unnecessary restrictions and delays, including those that keep aid organizations from bringing in sufficient supplies.
Violence compounded the crisis. Humanitarian partners in Gaza reported that airstrikes kept hitting populated areas and caused further casualties, OCHA said.
“This is undermining humanitarian teams’ security,” the office said. “On Saturday, UN personnel visiting a displacement site west of the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza City had to take cover when bursts of gunfire hit nearby.”
OCHA renewed its call for civilians to be protected in line with international humanitarian law.
The downpour began Friday evening. It caused widespread flooding, damaged humanitarian facilities and learning spaces, and disrupted essential services, OCHA said, laying bare how flimsy the shelters are. An infant reportedly drowned. Three children and two women died when a sandy hill collapsed onto their tents. Thousands of families lost their shelters and belongings, the office said, citing partner reports.
Aid workers moved fast, but supplies ran short.
“Humanitarian partners mobilized immediately to assess people’s needs, distribute emergency supplies and otherwise support those affected,” OCHA said. “Nevertheless, humanitarian stocks of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and clothes inside Gaza are virtually exhausted.”
The world body and its partners pumped out floodwater, upgraded drainage, shored up displacement sites with sandbags, repaired shelters where possible and delivered emergency goods to affected families, the office said. “But our teams are working with far too little equipment and too few shelter materials for the scale of the need.”
OCHA said that more funding and Israeli approvals are urgently needed to bring in enough supplies and machinery, including vacuum trucks, mobile dewatering pumps, engine oil, hoses and heavy equipment. More than 150,000 tents bought by humanitarian partners and UN member states “were outside Gaza ready for dispatch,” it noted.
Speaking Monday in Ramallah, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Ramiz Alakbarov, said the rain is a natural event but people’s vulnerability is man-made. He said hostilities have devastated homes and vital infrastructure, while tight Israeli restrictions have curbed preparations and blocked access to areas away from the flood-prone shoreline. Most residents are sheltering in worn-out tents that would buckle in what would count as a moderate storm elsewhere.
Alakbarov urged the immediate removal of all unnecessary restrictions and delays, including those that keep aid organizations from bringing in sufficient supplies.
Violence compounded the crisis. Humanitarian partners in Gaza reported that airstrikes kept hitting populated areas and caused further casualties, OCHA said.
“This is undermining humanitarian teams’ security,” the office said. “On Saturday, UN personnel visiting a displacement site west of the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza City had to take cover when bursts of gunfire hit nearby.”
OCHA renewed its call for civilians to be protected in line with international humanitarian law.
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