Gaza Genocideupdated 27m ago3 min read
Archive photo · 1 December 2025Gaza Peace Council Urges Israel to Open Crossings as Winter Flooding Kills
“more must be done to protect the vulnerable”
“blamed the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the stagnation in the Strip”
Photo: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office / UK Government and Number 10, CC BY 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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Gaza Peace Council urges Israel to open crossings and permit entry of humanitarian aid. Heavy rains flood tens of thousands of Gaza tents, displacing thousands of families.
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Winter floods and blame
The Gaza Peace Council urged Israel to allow the entry of necessary materials into the sector to provide temporary shelter and infrastructure, saying Israel’s delay in delivering aid and implementing the Sharm El-Sheikh commitments has aggravated the humanitarian crisis. Hamas criticized the council’s statement, saying it presents a distorted narrative of the disaster’s causes and that it ignores well-documented political facts about the Israeli occupation’s responsibility for delaying the implementation of President Donald Trump’s plan and the roadmap. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Peace Process, Rama Z Al-Kakro, told reporters that the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is man-made by Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes, neighborhoods, and basic infrastructure, and he said 26,000 families have been affected as winter approaches.
Al-Kakro said the UN received reports of five people dying due to a sand dune collapsing on their tents, in addition to a baby drowned at a displacement site, and he called on Israeli authorities to immediately lift all restrictions on entering humanitarian supplies. Palestinian Social Development Minister Siham Hamad confirmed that all Gaza residents, about 2.1 million people, need protection and assistance during the winter, and she said more than 65% of households live in tents and temporary shelters.
Peace board versus Israel
The Trump administration’s Board of Peace called on Israel to immediately facilitate the entry of winterization and humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, warning that the situation “no longer represents simply a threat” but an “immediate humanitarian emergency.” The Board of Peace said “Seasonal flooding that has struck Gaza over the past two days has swamped tens of thousands of tents and makeshift shelters,” and it urged Israel to authorize shelter, sanitation, drainage, and other supplies. The IDF said tens of thousands of tents and other winter supplies have entered Gaza, and it blamed Hamas and the United Nations for holdups in assistance.
The Board of Peace, however, blamed the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for stagnation in the Strip and simultaneously blamed Hamas for refusing to disarm, warning that this makes it harder to provide for the civilian population. The Board of Peace said it had “specifically urged the Israeli government to authorize the entry of essential materials for temporary shelter” and to abide by commitments under the Sharm El-Sheikh Humanitarian Protocol.
Deaths, damage, and next steps
UN OCHA said an infant reportedly drowned and five Gazans were killed, including three children, when a sand dune collapsed on their tents as the first heavy rains swept across the enclave at the weekend. OCHA said the dune collapsed onto tents at Al Berka Reservoir, west of Deir Al Balah, killing three children and two women and injuring one other person, and it reported water levels rose to 1.5 metres in some locations. The OCHA update said civil defence units received 2,166 distress calls but could respond to only 218, and it reported that at least 55 learning spaces serving some 55,000 children were flooded.
The OCHA report said humanitarian partners had received appeals for aid from more than 26,000 households whose shelters or belongings were damaged, and it said more than 6,000 family shelters were reportedly destroyed and 17,400 damaged. UN Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov called for the urgent lifting of all unnecessary restrictions and delays, including those preventing aid organizations from bringing in vacuum trucks, dewatering pumps, heavy machinery, spare parts, tents, tarpaulins, blankets and winter clothing.
