Israel to relocate Gaza City residents

Gaza residents will be provided with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave “to ensure their safety,” the Israeli military said on Saturday. This comes days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people. According to information, the tents and shelter equipment will be sent into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing by the United Nations and other international bodies, following a “thorough security inspection” by Israeli authorities.

The Israeli government has instructed the IDF to ready to capture Gaza City, where an estimated one million civilians are sheltering. The civilians will be instructed to head to southern Gaza for their safety, according to officials. Alongside the announcement of renewed tent deliveries to the Strip, the Prime Minister’s Office gave special permission to Indonesia to airdrop humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Saturday. Israel resumed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2, but until now, none of the deliveries have included shelter equipment, which has not been allowed for 26 weeks.

A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern over Israel’s plans to relocate people to southern Gaza saying it would only increase suffering. But the U.N. body welcomed Israel’s recognition that shelter is a desperate need and that tents and other shelter equipment will be allowed again into Gaza. “The UN and its partners will seize the opportunity this opens,” the spokesperson said.