Doha: The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warned that the Israeli occupation is using winter as an additional weapon to destroy the residents of the Gaza Strip, calling for immediate pressure to allow the entry of temporary housing and shelter supplies without delay. In a statement on Monday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warned of an imminent catastrophe with the onset of winter, including the potential collapse of hundreds of severely damaged homes on their inhabitants due to the absence of safe and liveable housing. It pointed out that winter weather and rainfall sharply increase the risk of collapse of homes with compromised structural integrity due to bombing and the absence of any reinforcement or restoration.

According to Qatar News Agency, the center said that civilians are forced to choose between remaining in dilapidated buildings on the verge of collapse or sheltering in fragile tents that offer no protection from winter cold or rain. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people sheltering in tents face equally dire conditions with the onset of winter.

The center noted that Israel is using the blockade as a tool of genocide and the creation of deadly living conditions by blocking reconstruction and repair, preventing the entry of materials and equipment needed to clear rubble and restore homes, water and sanitation systems, and electricity networks, and by obstructing humanitarian response efforts and undermining relief agencies' ability to provide even minimal protection.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that this pattern of violations constitutes a systematic strategy to impose long term forced displacement by erasing the basic necessities of life, including shelter, infrastructure, and stability, thereby undermining the Palestinian presence on the land by rendering survival impossible and compelling the population to flee under threat as a last resort.