Ramallah, November 07 (QNA) - The ordeal engulfing displaced Gazans as a result of harsh weather conditions, with rainwater flooding their tents and shelters collapsing over their occupants, marks a new chapter in the ghastly humanitarian catastrophe, amid the absence of shelter and even the most basic necessities of life and protection, said Rawhi Fattouh, chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNC).

In a statement Saturday, Fattouh added that the harrowing scenes of children and women grappling with the cold, storms and rain inside dilapidated tents, amid cries for help and the inability to provide safe shelter, amount to a moral and humanitarian indictment of the international community, which continues to remain silent despite its ability to intervene.

The flooded tents, cold and storms aren't merely natural phenomena, but rather evidence of the world's abdication of responsibilities toward the Palestinian people, Fattouh continued, stressing that leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people to contend with tough conditions that endanger their lives is a stain on the conscience of the free world, which only gives lip service without providing adequate protection and relief.

Fattouh called for urgent and binding international action to provide temporary housing, tents, shelter materials and heating supplies, ensure the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid, and bring policies of starvation and forced displacement to a close.

He stressed that the relentless global fiasco in protecting displaced people and meeting their basic needs amounts to complicity through silence in an ongoing crime against the Palestinian people.

Since Friday, the Gaza Strip has been under the influence of a deep low-pressure system accompanied by a cold air mass, falling temperatures and heavy, persistent rainfall.

The pummeling rain has flooded several tents in displacement camps and damaged residents' belongings, including mattresses, blankets and food supplies, further exacerbating the travails of thousands of displaced people living in dilapidated tents that lack even the most basic necessities of life. (QNA)