Gaza families forced to shelter in unsafe, damaged homes

Families in Gaza are living in partially collapsed buildings with no safe alternatives after three years of war.

Masada Abu Jarad, 60, and her family have set up a tent beneath a broken roof in Gaza City’s Palestine Square after the structure partially collapsed, exposing them to the elements. The Palestinian Red Crescent and Civil Defence warned the family to leave, but reconstruction is blocked, leaving them with no other options.

Masada, originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, returned to the city after earlier displacement but cannot go back to her hometown, which was devastated early in the conflict. She says the cost of renting a safer place is unaffordable.

Her situation mirrors a wider housing crisis: a joint United Nations, World Bank and European Union assessment reported that 371,888 housing units – 76.6 % of Gaza’s stock – were destroyed or damaged as of October 2025, and rebuilding will require over €71 billion in the next decade.

The danger of the deteriorating housing stock was highlighted on 16 September when a six‑storey war‑damaged residential block collapsed, killing 21 people, including 12 children, according to the UN and Gaza Civil Defence.

Abdullah Abu Hajar, 40, lives with his wife and five children in the al‑Najma building in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood, a severely damaged six‑storey structure that municipal notices label unsafe. About 17 families, roughly 50‑60 people, remain there, enduring sleepless nights listening for any sign of further collapse.

Abdullah, displaced from Beit Hanoon, says his relatives also wander between north and south Gaza seeking shelter, but find nowhere safe to stay.

Source: Al Jazeera. Photo: Zhengyang TIAN / Pexels.