Daijiworld Media Network - Gaza

Gaza, Sep 26: Families living in war-damaged buildings across Gaza are facing growing fears of structural collapses, but many say they have nowhere safe or affordable to move as the territory continues to grapple with a severe housing crisis.

For 60-year-old Masada Abu Jarad, part of the roof above her apartment has collapsed, leaving broken concrete and twisted steel bars exposed to the elements. Her family has pitched a tent beneath the damaged section of the room for shelter.

The Palestinian Red Crescent and Civil Defence visited the family last week and warned them to leave because the structure was dangerous. But Masada said the family had few alternatives.

“We have no options,” she said. “I want to leave, but who will give me an alternative?”

Masada has lived in the building in Gaza City’s Palestine Square area for the past year after returning to northern Gaza following earlier displacement. Her family is originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza but was forced to leave after the area was heavily damaged during the war.

After repeated displacement, Masada said moving again without knowing where they could safely stay had become exhausting. The cost of renting another place was also beyond the family’s means.

“Even if there is a better place, tell me how I can afford to rent it,” she said.

Her situation reflects a wider housing crisis. A joint assessment by the United Nations, World Bank and European Union found that 371,888 housing units, or 76.6 percent of Gaza’s housing stock, had been destroyed or damaged as of October 2025. The assessment estimated that rebuilding Gaza would require more than $71 billion over the next decade.

The dangers posed by damaged buildings became particularly stark on September 16, when a six-storey war-damaged residential building in Gaza City collapsed, killing 21 people, including 12 children, according to the UN and Gaza Civil Defence.

The collapse has heightened fears among families continuing to live in other damaged structures.

Abdullah Abu Hajar, 40, lives with his wife and five children in the al-Najma building in Gaza City’s southern Remal neighbourhood. The six-storey structure is severely damaged and unstable, with around 17 families, or between 50 and 60 people, still living there, according to Abdullah.

Municipal notices on the exterior walls warn residents and passers-by that the building is unsafe and at risk of collapse.

At night, while his wife and children sleep, Abdullah stays awake listening for unfamiliar sounds, including shifting concrete, moving stones and unexplained creaking.

“I stay awake all night, keeping watch,” he said. “I can’t close my eyes. I keep just listening to sounds around me.”

Abdullah said he was particularly worried about his children and became even more fearful after the September 16 collapse. He said he has barely slept since then.

“I’m already on edge,” he said. “But I don’t know where I can go.”

His family was displaced from Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza after the area was attacked and moved repeatedly during the war before finding shelter in the al-Najma building.

Abdullah said his extended family faces similar uncertainty. One relative has been moving between northern and southern Gaza searching for a place where he can pitch a tent.

“I told him to come and stay with us,” Abdullah said. “But he is hesitant because of the condition of this building. At the same time, he has nowhere else to go.”

For 36-year-old Islam Hassanein, the risks are similarly intertwined with the place she calls home. The mother of five has spent nearly a year living with her family in a single room on the third floor of a damaged building.

She found the room after searching for somewhere to stay, but it was filled with rubble and debris.

“We cleaned it and stayed in it,” she said.

The building is visibly damaged and leaning, while its plumbing does not function, forcing the family to use an outside bathroom.

But leaving has proved difficult because the family has been unable to find another place.

“We keep looking, but we can’t find anywhere,” Islam said. “They might even force us out of here. What are we supposed to do?”

She said she would leave immediately if a safe alternative and a tent were provided.

“If they find us a good place and provide us with a tent, we will leave from the morning,” she said. “But where is this place? And where is the tent?”

The condition of the building regularly reminds her of the danger.

“Every day, you hear the cracking,” she said. “People who live here tell us, ‘It’s cracking.’ Then a column fell, and they took us out of the building temporarily.”

The approaching winter could further worsen the situation, with rain and colder weather posing additional risks to already weakened structures. Islam recalled spending much of the previous winter in her family’s tent because the damaged building flooded whenever it rained.

“Last winter was terrifying,” she said. “We were constantly afraid that the building would collapse. I spent most days in my family’s tent because this building was full of openings and would flood whenever it rained.”

“Now, I am very afraid of this winter, and I don’t know what we are going to do.”

The UN has said thousands of people are sheltering in damaged buildings considered unsafe because better housing options are unavailable. Restrictions on the entry of tents, tarpaulins and other essential shelter materials have further complicated efforts to provide adequate shelter.

UNICEF estimates that nearly 84 percent of Gaza’s population, or more than 1.76 million people, are living in overcrowded displacement sites or damaged and inadequate shelters, with limited protection from cold weather, heavy rain and flooding.

For families such as Islam’s, the continuing lack of alternatives has forced them to remain in places they know are unsafe.

“They are all afraid,” she said of her children. “But what can we do? If there is an alternative, I will leave. We leave it to God.”