Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Israel must allow tent repair kits to enter Gaza so that residents displaced by the war can start reinforcing their shelters before winter arrives, the Norwegian Refugee Council said.
With the strict Israeli controls hindering the flow of goods into the territory, it would take two years to deliver enough new tents for the one million people in need of proper shelter, the NRC said.
The aid group is calling for 25,000 repair kits of tarpaulin, plastic sheets, rope and duct tape to be delivered each week.
“The international community, including the United States, the United Kingdom and European Union member states, must insist that Israel facilitates the delivery of sealing-off kits to southern Gaza,” said Alison Ely, the NRC's shelter cluster co-ordinator in Gaza.
Nine out of 10 people in Gaza have been forced out of their homes since the war began almost a year ago. Israeli bombardment and ground operations have forced the displacement of Gazans up to 20 times.
In southern Gaza, the UN estimates that there are 30,000 displaced Gazans in every square kilometre of the “humanitarian zone” in Al Mawasi, where Israel ordered people to move for their safety. This number was about 1,200 people before the war.
Ms Ely said tents distributed earlier by humanitarian groups need repair either because of wear and tear or because their owners have been displaced so frequently.
“They have to take them down and move them and that deteriorates the quality of the tents – so they need replacing or repairing,” she told The National.
Some people have been forced to live in shelters that they made themselves, she said. These can be made up of “blankets and sheets or flour sacks that they had sewed together to make roofs and walls”.
Ms Ely said that Gazans whose homes have not been destroyed would need help as most structures had suffered some damage from Israeli bombardment.
“Some have gone back to their damaged homes and there's no way of weatherproofing those places that have gaping holes in the wall or their doors blown out,” she said.
In May, a UN report said rebuilding damaged homes in Gaza will take until 2040. The process is likely to be delayed by the Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods that it deems to be of “dual use”, such as construction materials that could be used to build a tunnel network like the one Hamas created.
On Wednesday, Gaza's Ministry of Health said Israel was releasing 88 bodies taken from the enclave but demanded that they be identified first before being taken for burial. Previously, families have gone to border points to meet lorries carrying the bodies, or to hospitals where they were taken to check whether their loved ones were among them.
About 41,500 people have been killed and more than 96,000 others have been injured in Israel's war in Gaza the ministry said, with thousands more missing. The war began on October 7 after Hamas attacked southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people. About 250 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
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Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
SPECS
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
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