Board of Peace urges Israel to allow more Gaza aid after floods

The US-backed Board of Peace has urged Israel to allow more winter aid into Gaza, saying its response to severe flooding has been insufficient as tens of thousands of households report damage.

The board, established to oversee President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, called on Israel on 9 November to authorise and facilitate the entry of shelter materials, sanitation equipment and other supplies. It acknowledged that Israel was considering steps but said “the response remains insufficient”.

Heavy rain and wind hit Gaza from 6 November, flooding displacement sites and disrupting services. By 8 November, aid organisations had received appeals from more than 26,000 households whose shelters or belongings had been damaged, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. It expects the overall impact to be greater.

OCHA estimates that about 1.4 million people, or 65% of Gaza’s population, live in tents or makeshift shelters. It said humanitarian stocks of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and clothes inside Gaza were virtually exhausted, while more than 150,000 tents were outside the territory ready for dispatch.

Israel’s military and its aid coordination agency, COGAT, said more than 91,000 tents and over 8,200 lorries carrying winter supplies had entered Gaza since their winter preparedness plan began. The military said the plan had been under way in recent months.

The figures measure different things: Israel’s count covers tents that have entered over the course of the plan, while OCHA’s is a snapshot of tents still outside Gaza on 8 November. The figures do not show how many of the tents that entered have been distributed.

OCHA said Israeli restrictions on supplies and equipment, as well as funding shortfalls, had constrained preparations. It called for more Israeli approvals and funding, including for pumps and heavy machinery.

The Israeli military said it had approved more than 850 requests for winter-related aid, but supplies covered by roughly half had not yet been transferred into Gaza, partly because of logistical and budgetary difficulties. It also said it was reviewing equipment because of the risk that Hamas could use it to rebuild its capabilities.

The board said it had repeatedly pressed Hamas to disarm and surrender governing authority, and that its failure to do so had compounded the difficulties facing civilians. Hamas rejected responsibility for ceasefire delays and blamed Israeli restrictions, the BBC reported.