By Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -International aid groups say they have not yet been able to deliver shelter materials to Gaza despite Israeli authorities saying they have lifted restrictions on such supplies, and warn that further delays could cause more Palestinian deaths.
Aid organisations say Israel had in effect been blocking the delivery of materials for shelters for nearly six months, with tent poles previously listed among items Israeli authorities considered could have a military as well as civilian use.
With international concern over the plight of Palestinians mounting as the war in Gaza continues, Israel announced measures last month to let more aid into Gaza and said on Saturday that it would start allowing shelter materials in from the next day.
But officials from five aid groups, including U.N. agencies, told Reuters that shelter materials needed by large numbers of displaced Palestinians were still not reaching Gaza and blamed Israeli bureaucratic hurdles.
“The United Nations and our partners have…not been able to bring in shelter materials following the Israeli announcement,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spokesperson Jens Laerke said.
“There’s a set of impediments that still needs to be addressed, including Israeli customs clearance.”
CARE International, ShelterBox and the Norwegian Refugee Council also said they had not yet received any authorisation to deliver shelter materials. Another international NGO, which declined to be identified, said it had been unable to deliver such supplies but was trying to get clearance.
Over 1.3 million Gazans lack tents, the United Nations said this month, and more people are expected to be displaced by an Israeli operation to seize Gaza City.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, did not immediately respond to Reuters questions. It has previously said it invests considerable efforts to ensure aid reaches Gaza and has denied restricting supplies.
After nearly two years of war, many displaced Palestinians are living in the rubble of their homes or in tents.
“Life in the tent is no life at all…There’s no proper bathroom, not even a decent place to sit. We end up sitting in the street, suffocating in the heat,” 55-year-old Ibrahim Tabassi said in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
He shares his cramped tent, made from tarpaulin sheets and scrap metal, with nine other family members. Clothes and pots hang inside.
Another Gaza resident, Sanaa Abu Jamous, said that she, like many other Gazans, had been using the same tattered tent throughout the war.
“My tent is extremely worn out,” she said.
DELIVERIES VIA KEREM SHALOM CROSSING
Israel said on Saturday that deliveries of materials for shelters would be allowed via the Kerem Shalom Crossing with Israel but would have to undergo security inspections.
The Red Cross told Reuters it had received permission from COGAT to bring in shelter materials from what is known as the Jordanian corridor to Kerem Shalom, but that many challenges remain.
CARE International said it had received no confirmation that the change in policy had been enacted.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian organisation, said it had applied for permission to deliver 3,000 tents across Gaza, including the north, but had not yet received a reply.
Many aid groups are resisting Israeli demands – under measures imposed in March – to register because it means disclosing personal information about Palestinian staff.
COGAT says the mechanism is a security screening intended to ensure aid goes directly to the population rather than to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
ShelterBox’s regional director, Haroon Altaf, said granting permission to only a select number of aid groups would not meet demand for shelter materials.
“If it’s only a handful of organisations that can bring shelter aid in, it doesn’t really change much and it’s deeply concerning. People are going to die because of it,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Bassam Masoud and Yazan Kalach, Nidal Al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Hatem Khaled in Khan Younis, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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