For months, thousands of families remain homeless, lying in the open sky – with the stars above providing both comfort and a haunting reminder of all they have lost.
Sabah, her husband Ahmad and their seven children spent weeks sleeping outside after losing their home. “We fled Shuja’iya to Rimal, then south – Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – and back to Shuja’iya,” Ahmad explains. “Every time we move, we lose more of what little we have. »
Sabah is sitting in a temporary shelter after spending weeks without a safe place to sleep.
Ahmad suffers from heart disease and does not have access to medication. One of their children suffered a head injury and lost his memory. Another fell from the fifth floor during a strike. Another died of hepatitis.
“She died because I couldn’t get her the medicine she needed,” says Sabah. “I didn’t even have any food, not even a pinch of salt.”
Before the ceasefire, life had become a daily battle for survival. Families spent entire days without food or drinking water. “The most difficult thing for a father,” says Ahmad, “is to see his children thirsty, to have water but not to let them drink because it must last for days. »
Today, the ceasefire has created a fragile opportunity, and with it, the responsibility to act.
IOM and its partners continue to provide emergency shelter support to help families face the coming winter with greater safety and dignity.
Since the start of the ceasefire, families have continued to move across Gaza in search of safe shelter, often finding their homes reduced to ruins.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Partners, 639,000 people were recorded heading south towards Gaza City, with many people heading further north towards Jabalya and Beit Hanun.
Many of them still find shelter in tents or in collective displacement sites, often in open areas without protection or in damaged buildings with little security.
Over the past two months, IOM has delivered more than 660,000 hygiene and shelter items through its Common Pipeline program, including more than 11,000 tents, providing essential protection and restoring a sense of dignity to families like those in Sabah, who have endured prolonged insecurity.
IOM Common Pipeline partner BLDA is distributing tents to families seeking safer shelter following the recent ceasefire.
IOM warehouses are full, trucks are ready and aid is ready to be delivered. All that remains is to open the passages so that aid can reach those who need it most.
As winter approaches, the urgency increases as families do not have access to adequate shelter materials.
“Families are in urgent need of tents, blankets and warm clothes. The cold is setting in. Without shelter and warmth, the suffering will worsen,” says Mohammad Najjar, program manager at the Beit Lahia Development Association (BLDA), an IOM Joint Pipeline partner in Gaza.
Last winter, more than a dozen people, including infants, died of hypothermia. Similar deaths can be avoided this year if families are properly prepared and receive support before severe weather sets in.
BLDA teams are preparing tents for displaced families across Gaza, providing essential support to those seeking safety.
“The long road to recovery is already being paved by Palestinian aid workers, with the support of the international community,” adds Mr. Najjar. “But it will take peace, determination and collective will to ensure that the security and dignity of Palestinians in Gaza are preserved. »
This evening, many families will once again lie under the open sky. The ceasefire has offered some respite, but winter is approaching and needs are growing rapidly.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
