US President Donald Trump’s peace committee has called on Israel to allow vital aid to Gaza, saying its response to the weekend’s massive flooding across the shattered enclave has been “inadequate”.
Seasonal rains have submerged tens of thousands of tents in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 2 million Palestinians have taken refuge, according to the United Nations.
“Urgent entry and distribution of necessary shelter, sanitation, drainage, and other winter supplies is critical to protecting civilian lives,” the peace committee said in a statement on Monday.
The organization, created by the Trump administration and backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution, was supposed to oversee the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire signed a year ago and the rebuilding of the enclave, but efforts have stalled for months.
The peace committee called on Israel to “allow the entry of materials needed for temporary shelter, water and sanitation infrastructure, waste management, drainage and sewage removal.” Much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli shelling of the territory during the three-year war.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday that Israel “continues to support winter preparations in Gaza,” pointing to other humanitarian supplies that reportedly entered the enclave.
“Israel and the peace committee face common challenges,” the statement said, adding that “as long as Hamas remains in power, it will use any military material that enters Gaza to strengthen its terrorist regime and expand its armament.”
Israel’s near-daily airstrikes have killed more than 1,400 people in the Gaza Strip since a nominal cease-fire took effect in October 2025, and hospitals in the enclave are fully operational.
Philippe Lazzarini, former head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said the council’s assessment of Israel’s response to the floods was an “understatement”. Lazzarini offered a “rare recognition” that Israel was not doing enough to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, accusing the council (which has largely avoided harsh criticism of the Israeli government) of “not using any force against the shameful dystopian misery of the Palestinians in Gaza.”
Three children and a woman were killed Sunday night when a sand embankment in Deir al-Bala collapsed on top of the tents of displaced Palestinians after heavy rains, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who led the multilateral effort to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, warned: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is deteriorating. Heavy rains, flooded tents. The reality on the ground is heartbreaking.”
“The British government will not stand by. We will not rest until we end this intolerable suffering,” he said in a statement on X.
Israel announced on Sunday that more than 91,000 tents had entered the Gaza Strip ahead of winter, but heavy equipment needed for large-scale cleanup and debris removal operations would not be allowed in.
“The reconstruction of Gaza can only begin once Hamas is completely disarmed,” said Israel’s Coordinator of Territorial Government Activities (COGAT), which has jurisdiction over Gaza. “Israel will not allow the introduction of equipment that could be used to develop terrorist capabilities.”
