“With winter rains and cold weather now imminent, the people of Gaza are even more desperately in need of construction materials such as cement,
roofing tiles and glass to build and repair homes destroyed and damaged in the Israeli military offensive of 2008/2009 (Operation “Cast Lead”), as
well as of regular supplies of fuel, electricity and clean water”, said Mr Gaylard.

“The winter will be particularly hard on the children of Gaza, whose capacity to withstand the rigours of a cold wet winter has already been severely undermined by a marked deterioration of basic services and descent into poverty” he added.

...the people of Gaza share with everyone else the right to dignified lives, free of indiscriminate and prolonged suffering. They should not be subjected to this continuation of collective punishment brought on by the blockade

More than two years of blockade together with widespread destruction resulting from the “Cast Lead” offensive have badly affected the basic infrastructure of Gaza. This includes tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, deterioration and further damage to already fragile and over-loaded water, sanitation and electricity distribution networks, and a marked fall-off in the quality of essential services.

Intensive discussions which the United Nations has conducted with the Government of Israel for the re-start of suspended building projects, which would provide much-needed housing and social services for the people of Gaza, have not yet yielded any positive outcome.

A total of 1393 Gazans were killed and more than 5,000 injured during the three-week offensive, leaving communities, families and children fearful
and traumatised, many of them living in the ruins of their homes, virtually destitute, and relying increasingly on the United Nations and its humanitarian partners for daily sustenance.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator together with the Non-Governmental Organisations operating in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) call upon the Government of Israel to facilitate the entry into Gaza, of urgently-needed construction and repair materials, of adequate supplies of industrial fuel for electricity generation, and essential items for the proper functioning of water and sanitation systems. Mr Gaylard said that “the people of Gaza share with everyone else the right to dignified lives, free of indiscriminate and prolonged suffering. They should not be subjected to this continuation of collective punishment brought on by the blockade.”

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