150,000 Tents Wait Just Outside Gaza as Israel Blocks Shelter Aid For Flood-Ravaged Exclave

As severe floods ravage Gaza, Israel is continuing to block the entry of tents, repair materials, and mobile homes despite the aid provisions of the October 2025 “ceasefire” agreement.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Monday that more than 150,000 tents are ready to be sent to Gaza, where it said more vacuum trucks and mobile dewatering pumps were urgently needed.

At least 70,000 tents were flooded in a single day this weekend. At least one infant reportedly drowned. A mother and her two children, along with three other children from the same family, were killed when a sandbank collapsed onto their tents.

“Over the weekend, while families slept, water flooded their tents and engulfed entire camps,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Children shivered in the bitter cold without winter clothing, and families lost the few belongings they had left. It is heartbreaking, and it was entirely foreseeable.”

“Israel is restricting access to shelter materials and has rendered 65% of Gaza off-limits. People have no safe place to go,” said Wassem Mushtaha, who leads Oxfam’s response in Gaza. The group has performed emergency maintenance on rainwater drainage networks and supplied tools for repairs.

He said that “urgent access is needed for spare parts, engine oil, pipes, and heavy machinery, in addition to shelter materials, to avoid more people being killed this winter.”

Most buildings in the territory were destroyed in Israel's genocidal war over the past three years. Of the Gaza residents who are living in makeshift shelters, according to Save the Children, about 1.2 million people, including over 560,000 children, are living in “critical or catastrophic” conditions, including flimsy tents and improvised structures that are often ill-equipped to handle the elements.

“Tents and tarpaulins are not the answer to Gaza’s winter,” said Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “They cannot withstand heavy rain and strong winds, and many are already worn out after months of use far beyond their intended lifespan.”

OCHA reported Friday that no emergency shelter kits were available in Gaza because Israeli authorities had rejected timber shipments.

“Palestinians have the right to receive the assistance they need,” Egeland said. “States must press Israeli authorities to uphold their obligations and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid and essential materials. Palestinians must not face another winter without adequate shelter. They cannot wait.”

The ceasefire agreement called for 60,000 mobile homes and prefabricated shelters to be allowed into Gaza to house displaced families, but Israel has allowed almost none to enter.

“All the tents are now damaged, torn, and covered in mud,” said Jaber al-Kaseeh, a man in his 70s whose family was forced to flee their tent in central Gaza’s az-Zawayda area this weekend after floodwaters began rushing in.

“We urgently need tents, tarpaulins, plastic sheets, mattresses, blankets, and carpets to protect us from the difficult days ahead,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We keep hearing about tents and tarpaulins being distributed, but we have received nothing,” he added. “We had hoped the mobile homes and temporary housing units promised under the ceasefire deal would allow us to rest and return to a life of safety and peace. But it was all just words in the air. We have seen nothing.”

Over the past two winters in Gaza, dozens of people—among them at least 26 children, including newborns—have died from hypothermia due to a lack of adequate shelter.

“This is not simply the result of bad weather,” Alhendawi said. “Tents, shelter kits, and fuel are waiting at Gaza’s borders while children sleep in floodwater because the Israeli authorities are blocking their entry. This is a choice, and children are paying the price.”

“As the occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure civilians receive the supplies they need to survive,” he added. “Instead, it is depriving families of the most basic means to protect their children, and it must be held accountable for any child deaths that result.”

“Israel’s ongoing genocide has resulted in the near collapse of all functioning systems in Gaza,” Mushtaha said. “Governments must insist that Israel allows for unimpeded access to recovery and repair materials to restore essential infrastructure and ensure Palestinian-led reconstruction efforts across Gaza.”