An assessment by shelter specialists in the besieged Gaza Strip has revealed that thousands of tents provided by various countries to house displaced Palestinians offer only limited protection from rain and wind.
The Guardian newspaper explained that this undermines claims that Palestinians in Gaza are receiving adequate shelter.
The newspaper explained in a report on Saturday that severe storms in recent weeks have destroyed or damaged thousands of tents, affecting at least 235,000 people, according to UN estimates.
The assessment was conducted by the Palestinian Shelter Cluster, which coordinates the activities of some 700 NGOs in Palestine and is headed by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
It revealed that the recently delivered tents, which house hundreds of thousands of people, are likely to need replacing.
The assessment indicated that these tents tear easily due to poor weaving quality, adding that the fabric is not waterproof.
Other problems include small windows and poor ground positioning, as well as water accumulation due to the tent’s inherent design flaws— including lightness, lack of waterproofing, and weak construction.
Insufficient shelter
The Guardian report stated that the findings, drawn from 9,000 responses to a social media survey conducted in November, along with observations from partners on the ground and community feedback, question the quality of aid provided directly to Gaza by individual countries, as favored by Israeli authorities seeking to bypass the UN.
It explained that 20,000 of the 90,000 tents that entered Gaza had been supplied to the UN or other major international NGOs.
The report cited Palestinians in Gaza and humanitarian officials as saying that the tents being sold by contractors were insufficient for Gaza’s winter needs and prohibitively expensive.
It was hoped by many survivors in Gaza that the ceasefire would allow them to begin rebuilding, but the ongoing humanitarian crisis, lack of essential services and territorial divisions have severely complicated matters.
