UN, partners urge Israel to lift restrictions on aid into Gaza

The UN and its humanitarian partners have called on Israel to lift restrictions on aid deliveries to Gaza, warning that deadly rainstorms have killed children and adults, destroyed shelters and flooded thousands of family tents.

More than 150,000 tents remain outside Gaza, ready for dispatch, as restrictions on supplies and access continue to hamper winter preparations, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In a statement, the Humanitarian Country Team, comprising UN agencies and humanitarian organisations operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the devastation caused by the rainstorms was preventable.

Humanitarian partners had presented a winter preparedness plan months ago, but restrictions on supplies and access, alongside funding shortfalls, had hampered its implementation.