Fierce winter weather puts more vulnerable Gazans at risk, UN warns

Heavy winter rains and high winds are pounding flimsy temporary shelters of tents and tarps in the Gaza Strip, putting more vulnerable people at risk, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.

OCHA said yet another storm carrying low temperatures particularly threatens newborns.

"The United Nations and its partners have targeted efforts to deliver assistance to communities living in flood-prone areas, including by scaling up the distribution of winter clothes for children from 5,000 to 8,000 kits per day," OCHA said.

Partners leading winter preparedness efforts reported that approximately 200 families from shoreline communities planned to move on Wednesday to what municipal authorities described as a new site in eastern Khan Younis. The households decided to move from sites threatened by flooding.

OCHA said the world body, its partners and individual UN member states distribute tents, tarpaulins, bed sheets and winter clothes to families in urgent need of assistance. Work is underway to mitigate flooding by reinforcing high-risk areas with sandbags, emptying storm drains and clearing solid waste.

The humanitarian office said that its partners leading efforts to improve access to education reported that about 65 classrooms previously used as shelters for displaced people have now been cleaned and prepared so that learning activities can restart. However, partners warn that education materials remain blocked from entering Gaza, disrupting efforts to help children resume their studies.

In a post on OCHA's ReliefWeb, Save the Children reported that Israel's restrictions on aid mean that severe winter weather is cutting children off from much-needed child protection and psychosocial support services.

Four of the aid group's eight child-friendly spaces were forced to close during last month's severe storms as camps were flooded or damaged by a combination of rainwater and sewage due to the destruction of sanitation systems during two years of Israeli bombardment.

Save the Children staff said that poor ground conditions after heavy rain, as well as a lack of basic clothing such as jackets and shoes, have forced children to stay in their tents. Attendance in the child-friendly spaces for older children, particularly adolescents, dropped because they were busy helping their families repair their tents after storms.

OCHA said that in efforts to improve food security, partners report that so far this month, 260,000 people have received regular food assistance, consisting of two food parcels and a 25-kg bag of flour through 60 distribution points across the strip, including a new site that opened last week in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

"Given the importance of animal husbandry for food security, some 3,500 veterinary kits entered Gaza on Friday for the first time since August," the office said. "The United Nations and its partners have distributed the kits and animal fodder to over 100 herders and donkey owners."

OCHA said security incidents continue to be reported in Gaza, posing a risk to civilians, including humanitarian teams.