More than two and a half years of bombing have destroyed the majority of housing in Gaza. Families in gutted mosques, tents on rooftops, basements threatening to collapse: the housing crisis has reached a scale that humanitarian organizations are struggling to address.
More than 92% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war, according to the United Nations. The destruction amounts to tens of billions of dollars, but it is in the daily lives of families that the reality is most stark: no water, no electricity, children sleeping under torn tarpaulins, rodents proliferating under the rubble.
At least 850,000 people are in urgent need of shelter, lacking even basic necessities like plastic sheeting, rope, or plywood, according to the Palestine Shelter Cluster. Israeli restrictions on the entry of materials needed for reconstruction are preventing humanitarian organizations from responding adequately to the needs.
Families are settling wherever they can. Some are pitching tents on the ruins of their homes, others are sealing up dilapidated mosques with plastic or assembling makeshift shelters with materials salvaged from the rubble. Mohammed Jamil Diab, his wife, and their three children have been displaced more than twenty times since the start of the conflict. They now live in the basement of a damaged mosque in the Remal neighborhood of Gaza City, “in constant uncertainty about what will happen next.”
Ali Harb and his wife are living in the basement of their damaged house in the Yarmouk neighborhood, aware that the weakened structure could collapse at any moment. “I have nowhere else to go,” he says. Rami Azmeila, a father of seven from the Jabalia refugee camp, lost two sons, aged 24 and 22, when a missile struck his home. His family now lives in a makeshift tent erected on the roof of a damaged building.
Mu'ayyad Sa'id, a father of three, has settled in a destroyed mosque in Gaza City. Unemployed, he struggles daily to provide for his family's basic needs. "Losing both my job and my home has compounded the suffering of the war," he says. Salah al-Tawil spent much of the conflict fleeing bombings before returning to his destroyed home in Maghazi. In two months, he cleared rubble and made clay bricks by hand to rebuild part of the house. "I've lived through many wars, but I've never seen one like this," he says. "It has consumed everything."
Single women bear a particularly heavy burden of this crisis. Nibal al-Hissi, a young mother who lost both arms in an Israeli airstrike, lives in a tent in eastern Gaza and cannot feed or clothe her daughter without help. Suhail al-Yazji has been the sole provider for her family since her husband was wounded; she lives in a dilapidated tent reinforced with tarpaulins, on the edge of the ruins of her home. Amina Saadallah, a mother of six, lost her husband at the beginning of the war and shelters with her children in a fabric tent offering little protection from the elements.
Restrictions on the entry of construction materials into the territory, already severe before the October 2025 ceasefire that ended a six-month blockade, continue to hinder any large-scale humanitarian response. Youssef Mahmoud Aziz, displaced from Jabalia, lives with his family in a damaged school in the Remal neighborhood. "Having a roof over your head, enough to eat, sending your children to school: these have become dreams that are difficult to achieve," he says.
Community
Comments
Comments are open, but protected against spam. Initial posts and comments containing links undergo manual review.
Be the first to comment on this article.