Gaza City — Mohammed al-Jamal, 60, tries to secure the nylon sheets of his family’s worn-out tent as a storm approaches his displacement camp on a beach in western Gaza City.
He and his sons pull at the tarpaulin, trying to fasten it firmly to the ground for protection from rain and wind coming in from the sea.
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This will be the fourth winter that displaced Palestinians in Gaza have faced without adequate shelter. Many still live in tents and makeshift structures that offer little protection against the impending winter weather when temperatures can drop to 7C (below 45F) but can feel much colder due to strong coastal winds and rain.
The family cannot afford to fix their damaged tent with a replacement tarpaulin costing between 120 and 150 shekels ($37-$47) in local markets.
All al-Jamal can do is patch up the damaged shelter and hope it holds through the coming storm.
“We are trying to prepare as much as we can to protect ourselves from the water and the wind,” he said. “We follow the weather reports, and whenever there is a warning of a storm, we start preparing. But once the storm comes, everything gets torn apart, and we have to start all over again. It is continuous suffering throughout the winter.”
Mass displacement
Al-Jamal, originally from Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, has been displaced several times since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.
About 30 members of his extended family live in these difficult living conditions.
“We are just trying to adapt to what we have. This is what is available to us. We need everything,” he said.
When it rains, water enters the tent and floods their living space, risking damage to their meagre belongings.
When temperatures drop, tents offer little protection for the displaced, with al-Jamal and his family having no choice but to put on more layers of clothing.
“We are out in the open. We are living in the street, not in houses that protect us,” he said.
Al-Jamal said he had repeatedly heard promises that shelter materials and caravans would be allowed into Gaza, but none had arrived for his family, and he had not seen any of them enter.
He described these announcements as “false promises and lies” that had left displaced families waiting for help that never came.
“Our demand is to have our lives back the way they were before,” he said.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 74,500 Palestinians and destroyed or damaged more than 80 percent of buildings. With homes and infrastructure in Gaza destroyed, about 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are living in tents or makeshift shelters.
Many of the displaced have been forced to move from city to city when Israeli assaults begin on their homes or camps.
At least 294,250 families in Gaza need winter shelter assistance, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), but with current supplies, only 52,000 families, roughly 18 percent of those in need, have access to partial humanitarian assistance.
More than 65 percent of displaced households were living in tents or makeshift shelters, according to a Shelter Cluster survey, with more than half of those shelters in poor or very poor condition.
Israel’s siege on Gaza has also affected supplies reaching the enclave, with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) saying on October 5 that at least 500 truckloads of shelter materials were awaiting entry or procurement.
At the current pace, NRC said, it could take more than seven months for those supplies to enter Gaza. The materials include tents, tarpaulins, ropes and other items needed to repair shelters.
Winter around the corner
For families already living in torn tents, the shortage leaves few options beyond repeatedly repairing the same shelters.
Khitam Salman, 39, originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, has been displaced multiple times over the past two years.
Now living near the beach, she is trying to prepare for winter with tents that have already suffered repeated damage.
“Every time there is a storm, we put up the tarpaulins and tie them down, only to have to do it all over again,” she said. “With every low-pressure system, it is the same.”
Khitam said one of the family’s tents had collapsed four times while they were sleeping inside and was torn, allowing sand to enter and offering little protection from rain and wind.
She is trying to cover the family’s tents and the space where they store their belongings, but the costs are beyond their means.
“We need a tarpaulin for this tent, another for the other one, and one for the room where we keep our belongings,” she said. “But we don’t have the means. We have done what we can.”
Her husband works in the health sector, but she said he receives his salary only once every three months, and it is not enough to cover the family’s needs.
“The tents are not suitable for living in any more,” she said. “They are torn, and sand gets inside. It is exhausting.”
Last winter, after their tent collapsed and their belongings were soaked, Salman said she became so overwhelmed that she walked away and sat by the sea for hours.
“I was so frustrated,” she recalled. “The tent had fallen, everything was flooded, and all our belongings were wet.”
“I’m worried about this winter … that the whole nightmare will repeat itself all over again.”
Damaged roads, drainage and sewage systems also increase the risk that rainwater will mix with wastewater and swamp the camps.
Husni Muhanna, spokesperson for Gaza Municipality, said more than 85 percent of the city’s infrastructure had been damaged and its rainwater drainage system was operating at about 20 percent of its previous capacity.
Rubble, damaged drainage networks and shortages of heavy machinery, fuel and maintenance materials are hampering preparations for winter, Muhanna said.
The municipality has begun emergency cleaning and maintenance work, but its efforts remain constrained by a lack of resources.
Flood risks beyond tents
Yosra Mesleh, 45, was displaced from her home in Gaza City’s Nassr neighbourhood when her home was destroyed and is preparing for her second winter living in a tent.
Preparing for winter means thinking about what to do when water enters their tents and soaks bedding and belongings. When this happens, they often have nowhere dry to sit, cook or eat.
“When it rained last winter, the water came inside and reached the bedding. Everything got wet,” she said. “It was difficult to find somewhere to sit while we waited for everything to dry.”
In summer, the heat and humidity inside the tent were unbearable, she said, with water shortages compounding their dire living situation.
“The place where we are living is not healthy or safe. It is not suitable for summer or winter,” she said.
Her husband has been out of work since the beginning of the war, while her son is struggling to cover his own expenses.
“We need tents and tarpaulins. We need cooking utensils and a proper place to prepare food. We also need a regular supply of gas,” she said.
Without cooking gas, she worries about how the family will prepare meals when rain keeps them inside.
She remembers life before the war, when life was hard but they had an apartment and her husband ran a tea and coffee shop. They have since lost their home and their only source of income.
“We are not asking for towers or anything extravagant,” she said. “We are asking for tarpaulins and tents, for a dignified life.”
