RAFAH — At the heart of southern Gaza, about 775 displaced families squeezed in a makeshift shelter amid rapidly deteriorated conditions. The shelter, located in the Japanese neighborhood west of the city of Rafah, is one of many camps set up recently to house the growing number of displaced families who fled their homes during Israel’s war on Gaza.
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Tents are overcrowded, with an average of nine people in each one, but some host up to 20 squeezed together. That’s the case of Nourhan Yassin, a 22-year-old mother of two, who is living in a tent along with her husband’s family and other relatives.
Yassin arrived at the shelter one month ago after surviving Israel’s relentless bombardment of her neighborhood in northern Gaza.
“I have seen death with my own eyes,” Yassin summed up her experience and journey from her home to Rafah.
Winter weather, no clean water, little food
Life in the tent is extremely difficult especially in the cold winter. Yassin’s family sleeps on the ground, except for her husband’s aged parents who use two blankets. “It is difficult for the elderly to sleep on the ground,” she said.
Yassin is concerned about her two children who are sick “because of this cold weather”.
Clean water is no longer available in much of Gaza since Israel shut down pipelines that deliver water to the besieged strip at the start of the war. Yassin said her two children didn’t bathe for a long time. “The bathroom is very far from the tent, so I just wiped them with a cloth,” she said.
Yassin sought help for her children, but the only response she received was: “We cannot provide anything.”
Obtaining milk for her children is her daily concern — the same as for thousands of war-weary mothers in devastated Gaza. UNICEF has warned about the deteriorated nutrition of more than 135,000 children aged two or younger.
‘Displaced in our own country’
There are barely a few meters between the tents, with clotheslines separating them. These ropes an essential part of the lives of the displaced, including the family of Suleiman Muhammad al-Shamali, where each member has only one piece of clothing.
Al-Shamali, 67, was forced to flee the southern city of Khan Younis, along with his family, after Israel bombed his home. They walked five kilometers on foot, and ended up here in this camp, west of Rafah.
We’re displaced in our own country.
The three families — 11 people in total — living in his tent didn’t receive aid for about three weeks, he said.
“This tent is the biggest disaster and the biggest calamity that has befallen our lives,” he said. “We’re displaced in our own country.”
Al-Shamali arrived in Rafah four weeks ago to find that prices skyrocketed and essentials — including food — are extremely difficult to find.
“The bathrooms are unsanitary, and the food baskets we receive are completely insufficient to meet our needs,” he said, adding that securing water and heating resources, such as firewood, is particularly challenging.
Children are the main concern for al-Shamali, especially their psychological wellbeing, as they have become unstable, he said.
“There is an urgent need to follow up on their psychological condition,” he said. “I wish there was someone who would care about their situation and provide them with the necessary psychological support in these difficult times.”
Ibrahim is one of al-Shamali’s children. The 7-year-old child lacks the very basic things a child his age needs. He said he dreams of returning to his home where his room was full of toys.
While the intentions of those living here are set on returning to their homes, or in fact to the rubble of their homes, on a daily basis they have to make do with what they have. In this shelter, for example, there is a makeshift barber shop whose owner hung a broken mirror with his scissors and a brush next to it.
There is also a clay-built oven used by displaced families to bake whatever flour they obtain. They use wood to bake since no electricity or fuel is available in most of the Gaza Strip.
Adly Noman al-Dabbo, 50, uses his mobile phone as a torch at night. But this also depends on securing a power source to recharge the phone battery.
Disease outbreaks
The deteriorating living conditions in the overcrowded shelters are also causing outbreaks of diseases among the displaced people, especially children.
According to UNICEF, diarrhea cases among children under the age of five rose from 48,000 to 71,000 in one week starting December 17. That’s an average of 3,200 new diarrhea cases per day.
Israel’s relentless bombardment has made it extremely difficult to treat acute malnutrition among children, as sanitation and health systems have been destroyed. The remaining operational hospitals dedicate their efforts to assist those wounded by Israel’s bombings.
At the shelter, there are some individual initiatives to entertain children, but “war, destruction, and bombing dominate the atmosphere”, al-Dabbo said.
At the medical center in the Sheree, Dr. Muhammad Abu Ghali said the center receives about 190 cases of respiratory diseases daily; a third of them are a result of the overcrowding.
Scabies and other skin diseases are also spreading amid dire shortage of medical supplies and medicines.
“Children in Gaza today face a deadly, three-dimension threat,” Abu Ghali said. “Increased disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and escalation of hostilities.”
