UN condemns Israel’s block on bringing tents into Gaza

The UN has taken aim at Israel’s months-long block on bringing tents into the Gaza Strip, despite continual displacement orders being issued to civilians in the devastated territory. Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said shelter items had been banned from entering Gaza for about five months — during which more than 700,000 people had been displaced or re-displaced. “They may have been provided with a tent, and then they are displaced again and they have no possibility of taking the tent with them,” Mr Laerke told a media briefing in Geneva.