Photos: Gaza’s shelter crisis
Gaza faces a severe housing crisis with over 92 percent of homes damaged or destroyed following more than two and a half years of bombardment. At least 850,000 people require emergency shelter assistance, and Israeli restrictions on material imports are hampering humanitarian relief efforts.
The Gaza Strip is experiencing an acute shortage of adequate shelter as the scale of physical destruction from prolonged conflict continues to mount. According to United Nations assessments, the majority of residential structures have sustained significant damage or been completely destroyed, leaving families to improvise living arrangements in increasingly difficult circumstances.
The humanitarian toll extends beyond statistics. Residents are constructing temporary shelters from whatever resources they can access, including tents erected on the remains of former homes, plastic-sealed structures within damaged religious buildings, and improvised constructions assembled from scrap materials. Basic necessities such as clean water and electricity remain unavailable to many households, while children inhabit deteriorating tent structures and sanitation hazards proliferate in surrounding debris.
According to the Palestine Shelter Cluster, more than 850,000 individuals currently lack access to emergency shelter support and are without fundamental supplies including plastic sheeting, rope, and plywood. The humanitarian response capacity remains constrained by ongoing restrictions on the importation of materials essential for shelter construction, repair, and reinforcement. These limitations prevent aid organizations from scaling their assistance to meet the magnitude of need, particularly following a six-month blockade that preceded a ceasefire agreement in October 2025.
The live signal stream across the Qatari market.