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REPORT | Shelter aid for more than 1.3 million displaced Palestinians remains stockpiled outside Gaza with no explanation from Israeli authorities for why it is being blocked, according to humanitarian workers and medical advocates involved in ongoing aid negotiations, Drop Site News has learned.
Advocates told Drop Site that Israeli officials have repeatedly declined to provide reasons for denying entry to basic supplies, including food with protein content, infant formula, medical nutrition such as Plumpy’Nut, nutritional supplements, as well as temporary shelter materials. Such items, that are not designated as “dual-use” and do not appear on Israel’s own restricted lists continue to be refused without explanation, aid workers say.
Drop Site spoke with Washington-based physician Dr. Mimi Syed, who has volunteered multiple times in Gaza and is engaged in efforts to press for humanitarian aid access. She relayed warnings from the head of pediatrics at Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s largest hospital, that the consequences of obstruction are already deadly, with infants in neonatal units in northern Gaza forced to share oxygen masks amid critical shortages, and children and newborns having died in recent days from exposure to extreme cold. The United Nations confirmed yesterday the death of a two-week old baby due to hypothermia, as winter conditions worsen, rain storms flood and tear through old tents, while emergency shelter for over a million displaced Palestinians remains stalled just hundreds of meters outside Gaza.
Drop Site’s Ryan Grim discussed the aid blockade earlier on Breaking Points.