Geneva – Israel continues to deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of safe shelter for the fourth consecutive year. Around two million people need shelter aid after Israel destroyed or damaged most homes in the enclave, displacing the residents.
Israel continues to prevent displaced people from returning to areas under its control and to block the entry of shelter supplies and materials needed to repair homes. As a result, hundreds of thousands of families face another winter in worn-out tents and cracked buildings at risk of collapse.
Despite repeated deaths and warnings about the dangers of cold and flooding, the continued denial of protective measures perpetuates the destructive living conditions Israel is imposing on the population as part of the ongoing genocide.
The Gaza Strip is entering winter in urgent need of around 200,000 tents and one million tarps, according to the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee on 1 November. Israeli restrictions are preventing these supplies from being delivered and affecting items already prepared to help the population. On 9 October, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said around 8,600 emergency shelter kits were ready outside Gaza, but Israeli authorities continue to refuse them entry.
Despite repeated deaths and warnings about the dangers of cold and flooding, the continued denial of protective measures perpetuates the destructive living conditions Israel is imposing on the population as part of the ongoing genocide
Reports published on 2 November also said that requests to bring in tents ahead of winter had been rejected, and that durable tents were restricted on security grounds. Prefabricated homes were also barred from entering Gaza because they were considered part of reconstruction, which Israel has made conditional on political and military requirements. This leaves families without better-protected alternatives and in worn-out tents.
Over the past three winters, rainwater and sewage flooded the tents and shelters of forcibly displaced people, while strong winds uprooted their fragile shelters and damaged their remaining blankets, clothing, and bedding. Families were forced to move again to find a dry place to shelter. Children, including infants, also died of hypothermia, which could have been prevented by providing adequate shelter, heating, and protection from the cold.
These dangers are likely to recur this winter as tents continue to wear out and homes and infrastructure suffer widespread destruction. Israel continues to obstruct the entry of materials and equipment needed to protect the population, despite knowing the consequences this deprivation caused in previous years.
Persisting with these restrictions despite their documented consequences and repeated warnings indicates an intent to prolong living conditions that threaten Palestinians' survival in the Gaza Strip and prevent them from restoring even life's most basic necessities. This makes the deprivation of shelter an ongoing means of exhausting them and undermining their ability to remain on their land.
On 1 November, the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee said residents of about 7,800 tents in valleys, detention basins, and coastal areas exposed to the shoreline face immediate danger. Residents of about 2,000 cracked buildings also face collapse risk as cold waves begin. These families need safe alternative shelter before rainfall intensifies.
The danger is not limited to areas requiring urgent evacuation. On 5 October, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) estimated that around 950,000 people were in areas at medium or high risk of flooding.
An assessment published in August by the Palestine Shelter Cluster found that 71 per cent of surveyed households had experienced flooding in their shelters since the 2025–2026 winter season began. More than half of the tents and temporary shelters assessed were in poor or very poor condition. These findings show the extent of the danger faced by people in shelters that have already failed to protect them.
These growing risks coincide with the destruction of around 70 per cent of municipalities' essential operational equipment and 90 per cent of Civil Defence rescue equipment, according to the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee. The Gaza Strip has only five deteriorated vacuum trucks and 24 small mobile water tankers, amid severe shortages of fuel and spare parts. The continued obstruction of these essential services disrupts water drainage, network repairs, and access to trapped families, leaving the population without protection or rescue resources.
A report published by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on 29 October cited a field assessment finding that the Abu Rashid stormwater basin and pumping station in Jabalia were out of service due to a lack of power and unsafe access. It warned that without urgent repairs, the basin could flood and damage nearby displacement sites, showing how access restrictions and failing essential facilities compound winter risks for the population.
Allowing some tents in does not absolve Israel of responsibility for obstructing the quantities and types needed to protect the population. Compliance with its obligations depends on whether actual needs are met in a timely manner, not simply on the number of shipments permitted.
Withholding more durable shelters and repair materials leaves families relying on emergency solutions that quickly deteriorate and must be replaced repeatedly. Tying temporary housing to a conditional reconstruction process also makes civilians' urgent protection dependent on negotiations that may be prolonged or disrupted.
It is reprehensible to subject Palestinians' right to shelter and recovery to Israeli electoral calculations, particularly amid reports that measures to reconstruct Gaza have been postponed until after the elections. Electoral interests and political or military conditions cannot justify suspending civilian protection or depriving people of life's necessities. The lack of effective international measures to stop these practices and hold those responsible accountable has allowed Israel to continue using such deprivation as leverage, without facing a deterrent cost.
Palestinians' fundamental rights, above all the right to life, are not open to negotiation or subject to any party's approval. The prohibition on arbitrarily depriving anyone of life is a peremptory norm of international law. Protecting this right requires effective measures to shield the population from foreseeable threats to life, including providing shelter and protection from cold and flooding.
As the occupying power, Israel must ensure the population's basic needs are met and agree to and facilitate relief operations, without conditioning them on political or security arrangements or concessions from any party.
All states must urgently compel Israel to open the crossings and lift restrictions that prevent or delay the entry of durable tents, tarps, insulation materials, blankets, temporary housing units, and home-repair materials, ensuring these items enter in the necessary quantities and without delay.
Access must be allowed for water drainage equipment, heavy machinery, spare parts, oils, and fuel. Municipalities, Civil Defence, and relief teams should be enabled to repair networks and secure flood-risk sites while keeping workers safe and maintaining unhindered access to the population.
The United Nations, humanitarian organisations, and donor states should urgently fund the winter response, keep water and sanitation facilities and emergency teams operating, and provide safe alternatives for families in flood-risk areas or buildings at risk of collapse. Any relocation must be voluntary; protection must not become a pretext for displacing families again or preventing their return. Priority should go to children, older people, persons with disabilities, and patients. Tents are a temporary emergency measure and cannot replace enabling Palestinians to repair and rebuild their homes.
There must be clear, periodic data on requests to bring shelter supplies into Israel that are rejected or delayed, including the types and quantities of materials, waiting periods, and reasons for rejection. This would allow international actors to monitor obstacles and hold those responsible accountable.
States should impose targeted sanctions on those obstructing relief, halt transfers of weapons and equipment that could be used in serious violations, and support investigations and prosecutions into the destruction of homes and the deliberate deprivation of life's necessities. This includes deaths and harm caused by known, avoidable risks.
Israel's unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory must end as soon as possible, in accordance with the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion issued on 19 July 2024. This requires Israel to withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip, lift the blockade, and end its control over decisions affecting Palestinians' access to food and shelter and the reconstruction of their land. It also requires enabling Palestinians to restore the necessities of life and exercise their right to self-determination. The ongoing occupation does not relieve Israel of its obligations to the population until it ends, nor does it justify delaying their protection until a later political settlement.
