Displaced Palestinians in Gaza await mobile homes and aid amid occupation stalling tactics
GAZA – Displaced Palestinians in Gaza continue to wait for the Zionist occupation to allow in mobile homes, tents, and heavy machinery following the sixth captive-prisoner exchange on Saturday.
Media sources on Sunday reported that Netanyahu has decided to block the entry of mobile homes and heavy machinery into Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement stipulating that the Zionist occupation must allow at least 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents into the Strip during the first 42-day phase. It also must allow entry of an agreed-upon amount of equipment for rubble removal.
According to Hamas, the occupation had by far permitted the entry of 20,000 tents, but none of the mobile homes have made it past the border with Egypt.
Salama Marouf, head of the Government Media Office, noted that “nearly 1.5 million people have been left homeless after their homes were destroyed,” while Gaza’s entire population of 2.4 million suffers from lack of basic services and the total collapse of infrastructure.
If confirmed, Netanyahu’s decision could again put the fragile ceasefire in Gaza under strain.
On Saturday, 369 Palestinians were released in exchange for three captives in Gaza following days of tense negotiations. This came after mediators obtained from the occupation a “promise … to put in place a humanitarian protocol” that would allow construction equipment and temporary housing into the devastated territory, according to AFP News agency.
A total of 24 captives and 985 Palestinians have been released since the ceasefire began in January, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In this context, the Zionist occupation forced released Palestinians to wear shirts featuring a Star of David logo and the phrase “we will not forget or forgive” written in Arabic, which has been condemned as a “racist crime.”
“We condemn the occupation’s crime of placing racist slogans on the backs of our heroic prisoners, and treating them with cruelty and violence, in a blatant violation of humanitarian laws and norms,” Hamas said in a statement.
It added that this is “in contrast to the resistance’s firm commitment to moral values in treating the occupation’s prisoners”.
