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UN official says No time to waste to meet shelter needs in Gaza

January 22, 2025 at 11:45 am

A Palestinian man is seen among the destroyed tents after the Israeli army targeted the tents where displaced Palestinians sheltered in al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 02, 2025 [Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency]

There is no time to waste to meet the shelter needs of the people of Gaza, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference in the Swiss city of Geneva, Laerke said his organisation welcomes the “surge” in the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into the Strip in line with the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

He pointed out that OCHA is cooperating with the guarantor parties of the agreement to deliver aid to Gaza and stressed the need to deliver aid with maximum capacity, saying: “Hunger is widespread, people are homeless; disease, injuries are rampant. Children are separated and there’s a cloud of deep psychological trauma hanging over Gaza that needs to be dealt with.”

Immediate priorities for Gazans include “getting food in, opening bakeries, getting healthcare, restocking hospitals, repairing water networks, repairing shelter, family reunification,” the OCHA spokesperson said. “A lot of the things that we have done throughout, but nowhere near at the scale needed. And that is what we hope and work towards to be able to do now.”

“Up to now – these two first days of entry – there [have] been no reports of looting or attacks against aid workers.”

Regarding the massive destruction in Gaza, Laerke said: “People are building their own make- shift shelters. So part of the mission here is to find shelter. The sooner it is found, the better. There is no time to waste.”

OCHA and its partners have visited the Jabalia camp in North Gaza governorate, he explained, adding that “there is also a critical lack of access to water, with all wells destroyed, and the risk of unexploded ordnance remains high.”

“We and our humanitarian partners are mobilising to provide food and emergency shelter support,” he added.

According to the United Nations, 160,000 homes in Gaza have been destroyed and 276,000 have been severely or partially damaged by Israeli attacks. This means that 92 per cent of the housing stock in Gaza has been either destroyed or damaged.

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