“Over 400,000 displaced Palestinians” live in the Gaza Strip in areas that are particularly at risk from flooding because they are vulnerable to flooding, rainwater accumulation, or because they are located close to the coast.

This is the estimate of the Foreign Ministry in Ramallah, run by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which added that, given the serious flooding reported in the Strip in the last few hours, "the ongoing crisis could turn into an even more serious catastrophe."

In a statement reported by Wafa news agency, the PA emphasized that "nearly two million Palestinians live in approximately 270,000 tents and displacement sites in the Gaza Strip governorates." And that "between 60% and 85% of the tents are now deteriorated and uninhabitable after nearly three years of genocide and continued forced displacement."

For this reason, the Ramallah-based ministry has appealed to the international community, the UN, and NGOs to "take immediate and coordinated action to save lives in the Gaza Strip and address the worsening humanitarian and environmental crisis as winter approaches." A call for action also came from the UN, through its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. "Rains have now begun in Gaza, flooding shelters and putting people in immediate danger. Humanitarian organizations have mobilized rapidly, but available supplies are insufficient. The entry of basic necessities for winter relief must be allowed immediately. Increased humanitarian funding is urgently needed," the statement concludes.

(Unioneonline)