PM Shehbaz orders foreign ministry to widen Gaza aid

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pursue "all possible means" to step up humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and condemned Israeli restrictions on aid as violations of the ceasefire and international law.

In a post on X, the prime minister said he was "deeply concerned about continued Israeli illegal actions to deny basic humanitarian assistance to the brave Palestinian people of Gaza". He cited "heart-rending images of tents being flooded and of Gazan children with nowhere to go being trapped and subject to starvation and extreme cold".

The post did not say what Pakistan would send or when. Daily Times reported that the government intends to dispatch additional shipments of medicines, winterised tents, packaged food and warm clothing, that officials were coordinating with international relief organisations on logistics, and that diplomatic missions were seeking transit corridors for relief convoys. The report did not name the officials involved.

The Express Tribune reported that heavy rain and strong winds, which began late on Friday, flooded 70,000 tents in the Gaza Strip. Gaza Municipality spokesman Hosni Muhanna told Anadolu that families whose tents were damaged had nowhere to stay, with about one million residents and displaced people crowded into roughly 30 percent of Gaza City's area. He said the city received 60 millimetres of rain in 12 hours, around 15 percent of its annual rainfall, and that municipal crews received 250 calls about flooded streets, erosion and blocked drains. He warned that 270 camps and shelter sites in Gaza City were at risk of flooding, and said the drainage system was working at 20 percent of capacity.

Abdullah al-Majdalawi, public relations director for Gaza's Civil Defence, attributed the lack of safer alternatives to Israel's blockade and its restrictions on mobile homes and reconstruction materials, the Express Tribune reported.

The same report said UNRWA estimated that 1.98 million people, about 94 percent of Gaza's population, needed shelter and essential supplies, with 58 percent facing critical or catastrophic shelter needs. The UN humanitarian office warned in October that 950,000 Palestinians were living in displacement sites at moderate or high flood risk, more than 400,000 of them in high-risk areas. Gaza's Government Media Office put initial storm losses at about $3 million.

The war that began in October 2023 destroyed homes and infrastructure across the territory. More than a year after the October 2025 ceasefire took effect, shelter and reconstruction needs still exceed available assistance, with Israeli restrictions continuing on materials for temporary housing and repairs, according to the Express Tribune.