In Gaza, families live in homes at risk of collapse — Al Jazeera
In Gaza City, Palestine, families remain in war-damaged homes that are at risk of collapse because there are no safe alternatives. As Al Jazeera English reports, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the civil defense service last week warned residents of a partially destroyed building in the Palestine Square area that they needed to evacuate, but they have nowhere safe to relocate.
Sixty-year-old Masada Abu Jarad lives with her family in an apartment where part of the roof has collapsed. The family set up a tent beneath the open section of the premises. The family had previously fled Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip and is still unable to return. According to Abu Jarad, the family cannot afford to rent other housing because of the high cost.
Dangerous buildings
Forty-year-old Abdullah Abu Hajar lives with his wife and five children in the six-storey al-Najma building in the southern part of the Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City. According to him, approximately 17 families — between 50 and 60 people — live in the unstable and heavily damaged structure. Municipal warnings about the danger of collapse are posted on the exterior walls.
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Abdullah said that he does not sleep at night, listening for the sounds of concrete or stones shifting, or structures creaking. His concern intensified after a damaged six-storey residential building collapsed in Gaza City on September 16. According to the UN and Gaza Civil Defense, 21 people were killed then, including 12 children.
Scale of the housing crisis
Thirty-six-year-old Islam Hassanein, a mother of five, has been living with her family in one room on the third floor of a damaged building for nearly a year. The room was covered with rubble, and the building's water supply is not functioning. She fears that water will enter through openings in the roof and walls during winter, while heavy rain will further weaken the structures.
A joint assessment by the UN, the World Bank and the European Union found that, as of October 2025, 371,888 housing units in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged, or 76.6% of the housing stock. According to it, more than $71 billion will be needed to rebuild Gaza over the next decade. UNICEF estimates that more than 1.76 million people — nearly 84% of Gaza's population — live in overcrowded displacement sites or damaged and inadequate shelters.
