UK-based rights group warns over 1/2 million children in Gaza lack safe shelter amid Israeli restrictions

A UK-based rights group has warned that more than half a million children in the Gaza Strip are without safe shelter due to Israeli restrictions, as the territory’s first winter storm flooded tens of thousands of tents in a single day.

More than half a million children in Gaza are now facing their fourth winter in torn tents or makeshift shelters, many burning garbage to stay warm, as Israel’s restrictions continue to block the entry of materials needed to keep them safe from cold and flooding, Save the Children said in a statement following a powerful storm.

A storm that struck Gaza on Friday evening flooded more than 70,000 tents and brought down dozens of war-damaged walls, according to the Government Media Office.

Two women and three children were killed late Sunday when a sand embankment collapsed onto tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza’s Civil Defense said.

Citing a recent assessment from the Palestine Shelter Cluster, Save the Children said Sunday that about 58% of people in Gaza — or 1.2 million people, including over 560,000 children — are currently living in “critical or catastrophic” shelter conditions.

“While the so-called ceasefire announced over a year ago stipulated the entry of caravans as a more durable alternative to tents, Israeli authorities have repeatedly blocked their entry into Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of children exposed to another winter of hardship,” said the group.

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‘So-called ceasefire … failed to protect Palestinian children’

Nearly half of families surveyed by the Shelter Cluster assessment said they are resorting to burning plastic, tires, garbage or cardboard for cooking, with 84% saying they have no effective way to heat their shelters.

“The toxic fumes released by burning these materials can cause serious health problems, including respiratory illnesses, smoke inhalation, and carbon monoxide poisoning as well as fires and burns,” the statement warned.

Save the Children underlined that restrictions imposed by the Israeli government have also limited the entry of other critical items for winter, including tents, tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, insulation materials, blankets, fuel, cooking gas, heating equipment and construction materials needed to repair damaged shelters.

Warning that for children in Gaza, these conditions can be “deadly and life threatening,” the group said 11 children were reported to have died from hypothermia in the strip last year.

“Children shivered in the bitter cold without winter clothing, and families lost the few belongings they had left. It is heartbreaking, and it was entirely foreseeable,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director at Save the Children International.

He noted that this is not “simply the result of bad weather,” saying that tents, shelter kits and fuel are waiting at Gaza’s borders while children sleep in floodwater because the Israeli authorities are blocking their entry.

“This is a choice, and children are paying the price. More than a year into the so-called ceasefire, it has failed to protect Palestinian children,” he added.

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