Gaza crisis: Amid winter storms, humanitarians appeal for full aid access

This article is published in association with United Nations.

As the Israeli military completed its withdrawal at the weekend from a key security corridor in Gaza that had cut the enclave in two, UN humanitarians issued a fresh appeal for an end to all aid restrictions which continue to prevent the delivery of lifesaving relief.

“The health system is ruined. Malnutrition is rising. The risk of famine persists,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “We are ready to scale up our response – but we urgently need systematic and sustained access to the population across Gaza, and we need an end to restrictions on the entry of essential supplies.”

Three weeks since the ceasefire began between Hamas and Israel that has allowed further hostage and prisoner swaps, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a new warning on Monday about life-threatening conditions across the enclave. Some 60 per cent of buildings lie in ruins after more than 15 months of constant Israeli bombardment.

Perishing cold

“There’s a winter storm ongoing, it’s incredibly cold,” UNICEF Communications Specialist Rosalia Bollen told UN News. “I have no clue how people can sleep at night in their makeshift tents. Lots of people who return to the north found their homes in rubble. They’ve put up some sort of improvised dwelling on top of their rubble, but it’s very, very cold.”

Humanitarian teams continue to assess the impact of winter storms on shelters in different locations of Gaza. In northern Gaza, partners are also preparing to distribute 1,500 tents to returnees in the governorates of Gaza and North Gaza.

Although thousands of aid trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January – the World Food Programme (WFP) alone said that it had sent more than 15,000 tons of food into the Gaza Strip, reaching more than 525,000 people with food parcels, hot meals and cash – overall needs remain enormous.

“We’re doing all we can,” UNICEF’s Ms. Bollen insisted. “We’ve actually been able to scale up assistance considerably as the numbers are showing and we don’t hold on to items; as soon as we can, we do all we can to immediately push items out to families. I know that’s the case not just for UNICEF, but for others as well. But you know the needs are just skyrocketing.”

The UNICEF worker added: “We humanitarians aren’t magicians. We don’t have a magic wand that can help the suffering overnight.”

Sheltering under sacks

According to a situation update from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, despite an increase in shelter support for vulnerable Gazans, nearly one million displaced Palestinians live in “substandard tents or makeshift shelters, with families resorting to sewing old rice sacks together for basic cover”.

Many more Gazans live in crowded shelters in unsafe conditions, according to the Protection Cluster – a network of nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and UN agencies who work together in emergency settings.

For Gazans continuing to return to their homes in the north past the newly reopened Netzarim corridor that separated the north from the south, many find themselves confronted by a lack of basic services, including clean water. 

Latest damage assessments from the UN satellite service, UNOSAT, indicated that an estimated 69 per cent of all structures in Gaza have been impacted and more than 245,000 housing units.

“The governorates of North Gaza and Rafah have experienced the highest rise in damage compared to the 6 September 2024 analysis, with around 3,138 new structures damaged in North Gaza and around 3,054 in Rafah,” UNOSAT said in its last update based on preliminary analysis. “Within North Gaza, Jabaliya municipality had the highest number of newly damaged structures, totalling 1,339.”