Gaza’s tent crisis: Displaced Palestinians struggle to survive

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The tents and makeshift shelters have sprung up
everywhere in recent weeks: on the streets, in the courtyards of hospitals and schools, on once-empty patches of desert that are now full. A desperate few have even set up on top of destroyed buildings.

“I felt this was a safe place because it has already been targeted. They won’t hit it again,” said Samir Salah, who evacuated Gaza City in October and now lives with his family in a tent atop a flat piece of rubble.

As the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas enters a fourth month, combat in Gaza has advanced farther south, and Palestinians fleeing the violence — many of them for the third, fourth or even fifth time — have packed themselves into Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost major city.

More than a million displaced people are estimated to be taking shelter in the city, on top of its prewar population of 270,000. Apartments and other dwellings are housing dozens, even hundreds of people, as Israeli airstrikes continue.

Shelters operated by the United Nations in Gaza are full far beyond their capacity, the U.N. says. With nowhere else to turn, Palestinians are now living in tents or makeshift shelters made of wood beams and sheets of nylon.

And the swelling demand for shelters and the lack of supply has sent prices for materials skyrocketing.

Fears that ‘opportunists’ are taking advantage of war

Satellite imagery provided to NPR by the company Planet shows the rapid expansion of the tent camps since mid-December.

“You look outside the window of one of our facilities, and all I could see was the sea of these makeshift structures,” said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians. She returned Tuesday from a trip to Gaza.

After Israel’s ground invasion began in October following Hamas’ cross-border attacks, Mohammed Abu Salah and his family fled from their home in Absan, an area near Gaza’s eastern border, heeding Israel’s urging to seek shelter in Khan Younis.

But the fighting has since come to Khan Younis, forcing them out yet again, this time into a tent.

Before the war, tents in Gaza were mainly used for recreation, such as family gatherings at the beach. A high-quality tent might have cost 200 shekels, or about $50. This month, a small tent cost Abu Salah 700 shekels, or about $185, he said. That’s cheap, he added: People occupying nearby shelters paid double, or more.

“Opportunists are making use of this war. They hope this war continues so they can keep making money,” Abu Salah said.

The Israeli bombardment has left much of Gaza in ruins, especially in the north, where up to 80% or more of buildings are thought to be damaged or destroyed, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by researchers at the City University of New York and Oregon State University.

The U.N. estimates that more than 100,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza, affecting nearly 600,000 people. The cost of rebuilding is estimated at $1.8 billion, according to the World Bank.

But reconstruction efforts have been hampered by Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which restricts the entry of goods and materials, as well as by the ongoing hostilities and the lack of a cease-fire agreement.

The U.N. has warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “dire” and that the risk of disease outbreaks is high, especially among the displaced population living in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

Many of the displaced Palestinians have also lost their sources of income and livelihoods, as the war has devastated Gaza’s economy and infrastructure.

Some of the displaced Palestinians are also refugees from previous wars, who have experienced multiple displacements and traumas in their lives.

At age 89, Palestinian Liga Jabr remembers how conflict uprooted her family when she was a child. Now, 75 years later, she says the war raging in Gaza is even worse.

“This war is harder than any of the displacements” brought by previous conflicts, she said.

She lives in a tent with her son and his family, who fled from their home in Beit Hanoun, near the border with Israel. She said she has no hope for the future, only for the war to end.

“I wish I could die in peace, not in war,” she said.