US President Donald Trump’s Peace Council has urged Israel to allow essential aid into Gaza, after calling its response to massive weekend flooding in the destroyed enclave “insufficient”.
Seasonal rains have flooded tens of thousands of tents across Gaza, where nearly 2 million Palestinians are displaced, according to the United Nations.
“The urgent entry and distribution of essential shelter, sanitation, drainage and other winterization supplies is essential to the protection of civilian lives,” the Peace Council said in a statement Monday.
Created by the Trump administration and backed by a UN Security Council resolution, the organization was supposed to oversee the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire signed a year ago and the reconstruction of the enclave, but efforts have stalled for months.
The Peace Council called on Israel to “allow the entry of essential materials for temporary shelters, water and sanitation infrastructure, waste management, drainage and sewage disposal.” Much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure was destroyed during Israeli bombardments of the territory during three years of war.
Since the nominal ceasefire took effect in October 2025, Israel’s near-daily strikes have killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza, according to the UN, and no hospital in the enclave is fully operational.
Philippe Lazzarini, former director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), called the committee’s assessment of the Israeli response to the floods an “understatement.” Lazzarini noted his “rare recognition” that Israel is not doing enough to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, then criticized the board – which largely avoids harsh criticism of the Israeli government – saying “it is not using any of its leverage to respond to the shameful dystopian misery of Palestinians in Gaza.”
On Sunday evening in Deir al-Balah, a sand embankment collapsed on the tents of displaced Palestinians after heavy rains, killing three children and a woman, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who has led a multinational effort to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, warned: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening. Heavy rain. Tents flooded. The reality on the ground is heartbreaking.”
“The British government will not stand by. We will not rest until we end the intolerable suffering,” he said in a statement on X.
On Sunday, Israel said more than 91,000 tents had entered Gaza before winter, but it will not allow the entry of heavy equipment needed for large-scale clean-up and rubble removal efforts.
“The reconstruction of Gaza can only begin after the complete disarmament of Hamas,” said Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which oversees Gaza. “Israel will not allow the entry of equipment that could be used to develop terrorist capabilities. »
Gn world
