Shelter supplies available to humanitarian partners in Gaza cover barely 17% of winter needs, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope, has warned. A year after a ceasefire was announced, almost the entire population of the Strip still needs shelter assistance.

Pope said that families who have endured repeated displacement and heavy losses must be able to face the winter safely and with dignity. "Shelter materials must be allowed in quickly, regularly and in the quantities required," she said.

The IOM said around 8,600 of its emergency shelter kits are prepositioned outside Gaza and ready for delivery, but Israeli authorities continue to refuse their entry at the crossings. In the meantime, aid teams are relying on locally available materials and on salvaged and reused materials wherever possible.

With few alternatives, many families are living in war-damaged buildings that pose serious risks to life, the agency said. In August, one of its partners identified more than 3,600 buildings as dangerous and at risk of collapse.

The IOM also warned that an intensifying El Niño is expected to bring heavy rainfall that could further weaken unsafe structures. Badly damaged drainage systems leave communities exposed to flooding. The agency and its site-management partners have recorded nearly 1.8 million people living in displacement sites, most of them in flood-prone areas.

The organization called for the immediate and sustained entry of tents, emergency shelter kits, relief housing units, timber, tools and other materials needed to repair shelters and damaged homes. It stressed that immediate and sustained humanitarian access is essential to save lives and help families move beyond temporary solutions.