Families brace for a fourth winter of wind, rain and floods in Gaza’s camps
Maram Humaid reports in Al Jazeera on 28 October 2026:
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.
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.