SAFA- The Ministry of Public Works and Housing in the Gaza Strip said Monday that around 250,000 families urgently need temporary housing units, including caravans.

According to the ministry, 60 percent of the tents currently sheltering displaced families are in poor condition and fail to protect residents from extreme heat or winter cold.

The announcement came during a workshop organized by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to discuss the urgent need to facilitate the entry of caravans to provide shelter for vulnerable groups, including women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Maher Salem, the ministry’s director general of housing, stressed the urgent need to allow the immediate entry of temporary housing units, along with the supplies and materials needed to repair existing shelters and establish new ones that meet minimum standards of safety and human dignity.

Salem emphasized that the call for caravans is not a substitute for the fundamental need to begin reconstruction. Rather, he described them as a necessary transitional measure to move families out of deteriorating tents and into temporary housing that provides greater privacy, safety, and access to basic services.

Participants in the workshop, including representatives of human rights and legal organizations, called for increased international pressure to allow temporary housing units into the Gaza Strip.

They also called for the rapid establishment of a central body to oversee reconstruction and urged that temporary housing be made a priority during early recovery efforts.