Unrwa says Israel blocking emergency shelter supplies as Gaza struggles through storm

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) says families in Gaza are facing a worsening crisis as Storm Byron hits, with many displaced multiple times and living in fragile shelters.

Jonathan Fowler, a UNRWA spokesperson, told Al Jazeera from Amman that supplies for over a million people are being held outside Gaza, with Israel preventing their entry.

“It is a political choice to deny us the possibility of bringing that aid in,” he said.

Fowler added that teams on the ground are doing what they can with existing resources and aid from partner organisations, including pumping away lakes of untreated sewage left by destroyed infrastructure.