GAZA — More than 200 local and international aid groups have called on the international community to press Israel to lift restrictions on aid entering the war-torn Gaza Strip, warning that life-saving operations risk collapse after two years of genocide and blockade.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Humanitarian Country Team, which brings together senior UN officials and more than 200 local and international aid groups, referred to a new registration system for international non-governmental organisations, introduced earlier this year.
Aid groups say the process is “vague, politicised and impossible to meet without breaching humanitarian principles” as dozens of organisations face deregistration by the end of December, followed by the forced closure of their operations within weeks.
“These organisations are not optional extras,” the statement said. “If they are pushed out, the humanitarian response will not survive.”
The groups added that “millions of dollars’ worth of food, medicines, hygiene supplies and shelter materials are now stuck outside Gaza, unable to reach families in need” due to the Israeli restrictions.
According to the Humanitarian Country Team, international NGOs support or run much of Gaza’s basic infrastructure for survival. “They underpin field hospitals and primary health clinics, provide clean water and sanitation, distribute emergency shelter, and treat children suffering from severe malnutrition.”
“Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay,” the statement concluded, urging Israel to allow rapid and unimpeded aid deliveries and to ensure that humanitarian organisations can operate independently and safely.
Without swift action, the team warned, the “consequences for civilians in Gaza would be catastrophic.”
The warning comes as winter deepens in Gaza with at least 17 Palestinians have died, including four children, from cold and collapsing buildings since a heavy storm hit the enclave last week, according to the Palestiniaj Civil Defense.
Despite being battered by heavy rainfall and early winter storms for several weeks now, “winterisation supplies” remain “limited” in Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in its daily report.
Civil Defense Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said Tuesday that winter rains flooded 90 percent of tents in the war-torn enclave, leaving thousands of families without shelter.
The Civil Defense teams said they received more than 5,000 calls for help from residents since the storms began affecting the Gaza Strip last week.
Israel’s two-year war has destroyed more than 80 percent of the structures across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to take refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters.
Now, the humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate as winter deepens amid the Israeli blockade despite the ceasefire. With limited access to shelter materials, fuel, and medical care, displaced Palestinians fear that the coming weeks will bring even greater hardship.
This week, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said the Israeli occupation government has blocked it from bringing aid directly into Gaza.
“People have reportedly died due to the collapse of damaged buildings where families were sheltering. Children have reportedly died from exposure to the cold,” UNRWA said in a social media post on Tuesday.
“This must stop. Aid must be allowed in at scale, now,” adding Palestinians across the territory are “freezing to death”. — QNN
