40 NGOs: Israel obstructs aid deliveries to Gaza

According to the Financial Times website, these organizations, including Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam, People in Need, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, said last week that Israel had denied 99 requests to deliver aid to Gaza in the first 12 days of the ceasefire.

Three-quarters of the refusals came on the grounds that these organizations, some of which have operated in Gaza for years, were “not authorized” to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian groups said.

In March, Zionist regime imposed new regulations requiring humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to re-register with its authorities by year’s end or face the revocation of their operating licenses.

“We’re now in a stalemate,” Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said, explaining that when his group asks to bring in aid, Israeli authorities say: “Your registration is under review, you cannot bring aid in, you’re not approved to bring in aid supplies.”

In this context, UNRWA has said that winter shelter supplies sufficient for one million people remain stockpiled in warehouses and are barred by Israel from entering Gaza.

Meanwhile, Aladdin al-Batta, Khan Yunis mayor and deputy head of the Union of Gaza Strip Municipalities, has warned that “thousands of displaced Palestinians are living in dilapidated tents that offer no protection from winter cold or summer heat.

Speaking to Al Jazeera satellite channel, Batta said that these displaced citizens are living in camps without access to basic services, including water and sanitation.

Official figures show that 93 percent of Gaza’s tents are no longer suitable for habitation, according to the mayor.