The Board of Peace has warned that severe flooding in Gaza has become an “immediate humanitarian emergency”, saying tens of thousands of tents and makeshift shelters have been flooded and urging faster delivery of winter supplies.

The board, set up by US President Donald Trump after the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last year, issued the warning in a statement on Monday, 9 November, after two days of heavy seasonal rain across the territory.

“The situation no longer represents simply a threat posed by the approaching winter, but an immediate humanitarian emergency,” the board said in its statement.

Tens of thousands of tents flooded

Gaza’s Government Media Office said at least 70,000 tents were flooded in the first hours after heavy rain began on Saturday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said humanitarian partners had received appeals from more than 26,000 households reporting damage to shelters or belongings following the weekend storms.

Medics said heavy rain late on Sunday caused a sand embankment to collapse onto tents at a camp for displaced families south of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. A woman and three small children were killed, and six other people were injured, according to Reuters.

The vast majority of Gaza’s two million people live in tent encampments or in the ruins of bombed-out buildings, with reconstruction yet to begin following Israel’s two-year military assault, launched after the 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.

Board urges Israel to speed up aid

The board said urgent entry and distribution of shelter, sanitation, drainage and other winter supplies was essential to protect lives. It specifically urged the Israeli government to authorise essential materials for temporary shelter, water and sanitation infrastructure, waste management, drainage and sewage removal, and to meet its commitments under the Sharm El-Sheikh Humanitarian Protocol.

The board acknowledged that Israel was considering steps to respond, including through the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known as COGAT, but said the response remained “insufficient”.

Israel’s military said shortly before the board’s statement that it had allowed more than 8,200 trucks carrying supplies, including 91,000 tents, to enter Gaza. The board’s position was that those measures, while significant, were not enough for the scale of need.

Board also presses Hamas

The board directed demands at Hamas as well. It called on Hamas to fulfil its commitments under the peace plan, including laying down its weapons and transferring governing authority to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

It also urged the United Nations, its agencies and international donors to coordinate urgently to mobilise resources, supplies and operational support for Gaza’s immediate winter needs.

Ceasefire remains stalled

The warning comes as the ceasefire remains stuck in its first phase. Negotiators have failed to agree terms for Hamas to disarm or for Israeli troops to withdraw. Israeli forces control about two-thirds of the territory, and Israel says no reconstruction can happen before Hamas is disarmed. Hamas wants Israeli troops to leave before it disarms.

With winter only just beginning, aid agencies warn that further storms could deepen the crisis unless shelter supplies reach families quickly. The board’s intervention is the clearest sign yet that the body created to oversee Gaza’s recovery believes the humanitarian situation is deteriorating faster than the political process designed to fix it.