UN says 150,000 tents await Israeli approval outside Gaza

More than 150,000 tents bought by humanitarian partners and member states are waiting outside the Gaza Strip for Israeli permission to enter, the UN said Wednesday.

The figure includes 117,000 tents from the Egyptian Relief Committee in El Arish, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters at a media briefing, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

Asked what is needed to get the tents into Gaza, Haq said: “Ultimately, we need the Israeli authorities to cooperate with giving the permissions so that we can bring those tents in.”

“Some of the problems have to do with money for transport, but in this case, this is an issue of the needed permissions, and we need to get this in,” he said.

Asked how quickly the tents could reach people in need once permissions are granted, Haq said it depends on “how much access we have to the crossing points” and how quick the procedure is to get them into Gaza.

“But obviously, they’re just on the other side, and we’re ready to bring them in as soon as we get the permissions,” he said.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Wednesday that waiting for a new Israeli government to form is “not an acceptable excuse” for delays in getting essential winter supplies into Gaza.

“Foreign ministers and partners have assured me of support, but also repeatedly said that progress would be hard until after Israeli elections. Now we’re told to wait for the formation of a government,” he said in a statement.

“In case anyone has any doubt about international humanitarian law: this is not an acceptable excuse, as the international community and Board of Peace have made clear,” he added.

He said the UN set out a plan for the supplies it needs to bring in, including durable shelter, warm clothes, blankets, bedding and safe heating solutions, as well as generators, fuel, engine oil, spare parts and equipment to pump out water, remove debris and clear explosive ordnance.

“No more delay. Open all the crossings, not just one. Let our vital NGO partners work. Allow the commercial markets to function. Stop this collective punishment. Fund the plan. End this predictable, preventable suffering. The world is not powerless here,” he said.

Haq said the weekend flooding is worsening a sanitation crisis caused by the war, citing UNICEF.

“No wastewater treatment plant in Gaza is currently operational,” he said.

In Gaza City, rainwater mixed with sewage is threatening to overflow from the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin, where only two of six pumps still work, said Haq.

UNICEF has been seeking approval from Israeli authorities for more than a year to bring in the equipment needed to repair the facility.

“Humanitarian funding and Israeli approvals are urgently needed so that enough supplies and machinery can be brought into Gaza,” he added.

Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 74,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 176,000, mostly women and children, while destroying 90% of the territory’s infrastructure.

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