Gaza (GNP): The Board of Peace has urged Israel to immediately allow all necessary humanitarian supplies into Gaza after heavy rain flooded tens of thousands of tents. The US-backed body, created to oversee the implementation of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, said Israel’s response “remains insufficient.”
The Board acknowledged the steps Israel is now considering, which makes the statement a rare public criticism of the Israeli government. It said it had been pressing Israel to authorize the entry of essential goods for temporary shelter and for water and sanitation infrastructure.
The human cost is already clear. Three children and a woman died on Sunday when a sand embankment collapsed onto tents in the central Strip. The UN says about 65 percent of Gaza’s population, roughly 1.4 million people, now live in tents or makeshift shelters.
Residents describe conditions that leave families with little protection. Gaza City resident Mohammed Jneid said rain hit one side of his shelter while sewage overflowed from the other. Islam Al Mobayed said seven children, five of them young, are sheltering inside her tent.
The Board argued that delays in approving supplies “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.” It added that those delays also held up the decommissioning of weapons and the transfer of Hamas authority to a transitional government. It said Hamas’s failure to disarm and hand over power has compounded the difficulties facing civilians.
The UN’s humanitarian agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said more than 150,000 tents are waiting outside Gaza. It said aid efforts are constrained by Israeli restrictions on supplies and equipment, as well as funding shortfalls.
Israel rejects the criticism. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Michal Maayan said a winter plan was put in place in recent months with the Board of Peace and international charities. The Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, known as COGAT, said that plan has brought in more than 91,000 tents and over 8,200 trucks carrying tarpaulins, blankets, winter clothing and other equipment.
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COGAT said it will not allow in equipment that could be used for military purposes and that reconstruction can begin only after Hamas fully disarms. Maayan accused Hamas of hoarding aid and said winter hardships result from its policy.
Hamas, in turn, said the Board’s statement presents a distorted account of the causes of the disaster. The group denied responsibility for ceasefire delays and cited an August statement from Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators that accused Israel of violations. It also said Israeli restrictions block materials needed for shelter and recovery, and it told the Board to examine its own shortcomings as the ceasefire implementor.
The argument reflects a wider deadlock. Under the October 2025 deal that ended the two-year war, Hamas agreed to give up governance and its weapons in exchange for a phased Israeli withdrawal from the 60 percent of Gaza Israel still occupies. Israel insists Hamas must disarm fully before it withdraws, and both sides blame each other for the stalled next stages.
The war began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. The Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable, says Israel’s military campaign has killed 74,645 people.
UN humanitarian coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov said, “we have run out of time.”
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
