UN warns that civilians in Gaza face severe shelter crisis as strikes and gunfire continue News
Abedallah Alhaj, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons
UN warns that civilians in Gaza face severe shelter crisis as strikes and gunfire continue

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Thursday that 2.1 million Palestinian civilians are in need of shelter, essential household items, and protection from airstrikes and gunfire.

OCHA reported that Palestinian civilians are being “killed, injured or otherwise affected by air strikes, shelling and gunfire”. On Wednesday, a 13-year-old girl was among those killed. OCHA highlighted that the shelter severity situation is making it extremely unsafe for civilians and contributing to the wider humanitarian crisis.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), in partnership with OCHA, published a report on the shelter crisis in Gaza on Thursday. The report revealed that 94 percent of households in Gaza require basic household necessities and essentials, such as fuel, energy, and water. According to the report, an estimated 1.98 million Palestinians in Gaza do not have adequate shelter.

In commenting on the severity of the situation facing Palestinians on the ground, National Shelter Cluster Coordinator Jehan Salim stated:

A shelter is not adequate simply because it has four walls or a roof. Families need to be able to sleep, cook, wash and keep their children safe inside it. Ten months after the ceasefire, most families have lived more than a year in shelters that were never designed for long-term accommodation.

Salim also warned that essential materials to help build adequate shelters and repair and restore homes are currently unable to enter Gaza in the quantities and scale required. According to the NRC report, restrictions on these materials and inadequate funding has “kept assistance far below the level of need.” According to OCHA, an estimated US$562 million in funding is needed to address the shelter crisis.

The report highlighted that a majority of civilians, nearly two-thirds of households, “live in tents or makeshift shelters” which are inadequate for long term accommodation and expose civilians to harsh elements. Shelter deterioration, and environmental hazards including “rodents, stray dogs, solid waste, rubble [and] sewage” create serious threats to civilian safety and health.

The UN was alarmed by the reports of airstrikes on civilians, and stressed that civilians and civilian infrastructure “should never be targeted or used to military purposes.

Targeted attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949. The Fourth Geneva Convention also outlines that neutralized zones should be set up to shelter civilians from the conflict. Article 8 of the Rome Statute outlines that grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, namely attacks on civilians and protected property, constitute war crimes.

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