Extract from ABC News
Palestinians' tents were destroyed by harsh storms. (ABC News)
In short:
Displaced Gazans living on the Gaza City seafront have had their tents destroyed by a harsh winter storm.
The Israeli government is refusing to allow caravans, temporary housing or building materials into the strip.
About 1.5 million Gazans — three-quarters of the population — are living in tents or makeshift shelters.
Homeless Gazans are begging the Israeli Government to allow proper shelters into the strip as winter storms batter the enclave and destroy many people's tents.
About 1.5 million Gazans — three-quarters of the population — are living in tents or makeshift shelters, but the Israeli government is refusing to allow caravans, temporary housing or building materials into the strip.
Aid agencies said that decision had left most of the population cold and struggling in miserable conditions, exposed to hypothermia and disease in unsanitary conditions.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says at least three children have died so far this winter from hypothermia due to inadequate shelter.
Children are suffering from the lack of shelter. (ABC News)
Omar Askar is one of many displaced Gazans whose tent, pitched on the seafront in Gaza City, was destroyed by a harsh winter storm last week.
"The tent tore and collapsed, our belongings were thrown in the street. There's nothing to protect us now," he said.
"We appeal to anyone with mercy and humanity — if there's any humanity left in the country or the world — to feel for us and have mercy on us. We don't want more than that."
Omar Askar is running out of places to set up shelter. (ABC News)
The father of three said a storm surge sent seawater through many of the tents, meaning these displaced families were looking for another spot to live.
Mr Askar said the people on the beach could not return to their homes because they were in the "red zone", the half of the strip occupied by Israeli troops, who shoot any Palestinians who return.
"At least give us land in camps away from the sea,"Mr Askar said.
"As you see, the sea reached us; the tents collapsed because of the sea's waves. We're willing to return even to rubble — just take us back.
"Our area is dangerous; whenever we try to go, even to retrieve a mattress or belongings from under the rubble, artillery fires at us.
"We don't know where to live — neither in our homes nor by the sea. This is the reality."
Omar Askar is appealing for mercy and humanity. (ABC News)
Broken promise of shelter
These people — and many others — living in Gaza's displacement camps were promised caravans and portable shelters would be brought into Gaza after the ceasefire, so their living conditions would improve.
Israel's military, which controls all access to Gaza, said those items were on a dual-use list that prohibits the entry of things Israel believes could be used by the militant group Hamas.
Israel "offers international organisations alternatives" to those items which allow humanitarian aid without the risk of exploitation, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, told the ABC in a statement.
It said it had allowed the entry of "nearly 380,000 family tents, tarpaulins, and shelter materials for the residents of the Gaza Strip" in preparation for the winter season.
Aid groups said that figure was mostly tarps and bedding and that only 91,000 tents had entered Gaza since the ceasefire.
Most of the shelter entering the strip has been tarps and bedding. (ABC News)
Shaina Low from the Norwegian Refugee Council, the agency that leads the "shelter cluster" of humanitarian groups working in Gaza, said those items did not come close to meeting the urgent needs in the strip.
"For now, no durable, long-term solutions have entered or even medium-term or transitional solutions have entered Gaza," she said.
"People are living in just unimaginable conditions. And it's not just about the shelter materials that need to be brought in, but it's also about the heavy machinery that's needed to remove rubble, to clear, to dig drainage channels, to mitigate flooding."
The Israeli government has also recently banned 37 aid agencies from operating in Gaza, saying they don't meet new registration requirements.
Ms Low said the deteriorating conditions and access problems made it even more urgent to convince the Israeli Government to change its position.
"In fact, their obligations under international law is to facilitate impartial humanitarian relief schemes but what we've seen instead is just obstruction after obstruction," she said.
Randa Hijazi says caravans would provide more protection from the storms. (ABC News)
Displaced people like Randa Hijazi said their suffering was becoming unbearable.
"This isn't life. If only caravans were brought in — it would protect us from storms," she said.
"During storms, children freeze, especially newborns. Water comes from above and below.
"No-one is protected here. Everyone lives a tragic life."
Randa Hijazi says life has become tragic. (ABC News)
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