More than 1.6m people without proper shelter in Gaza and Lebanon as temperatures drop below freezing in some places

More than 1.6 million people across Gaza and Lebanon face a wet and freezing winter without proper shelter, according to analysis by ActionAid.

Around 9,000 people displaced by Israeli attacks in Lebanon are sleeping outside on the streets or in parks, or in tents, unfinished buildings or makeshift shelters – often no more than flimsy plastic sheets – which offer little protection from the cold, as temperatures drop below zero in parts of the country.

“Most of [the people] here, their homes have been destroyed and are gone,” said Rawan*, who is staying in a shelter in Tripoli, Lebanon, with her children. “‘We need heating because [when our] children sleep at night, the mats on the ground do nothing. The mattresses are very thin.”

In Gaza, where winter temperatures can drop to 6 degrees, more than 1.6 million people - the vast majority of the 1.9 million people displaced by the war - are now living in tents and makeshift shelters – a sharp increase from last year, when most displaced people were sheltering with host families or in public buildings.

Heavy rains have already washed away thousands of tents in Gaza, where more than 850,000 people are living in flood-prone areas, according to the UN. In areas such as Al-Mawasi, people have been displaced to tents on the beach where they are exposed to the elements and rising sea water, and at risk of being flooded with sewage water due to the lack of a functioning sewage system in the area, said ActionAid.

ActionAid’s partners and other aid agencies are doing everything they can to get families the essentials they need to survive the winter – blankets, warm clothes and fuel to keep warm – but with so little aid entering Gaza, less than a quarter of the urgently-needed tents and shelter materials have been delivered so far, leaving hundreds of thousands of people exposed to the cold and rain. 

Sahar, head of the Palestinian Development Women Studies Association (PDWSA), ActionAid’s partner in Gaza, said: “Tents are made of fabrics and blankets that are not resistant to the rain. The severe overcrowding in the temporary shelters does not allow for water to drain. The tents will certainly be flooded because there is no infrastructure in these camps to drain the rain water.
 

“Most of what the organisations can provide – unfortunately – is below the minimum needs of the people because the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip is preventing materials from entering the Palestinian markets, and aid from reaching the people.”

Dr Fidaa, project officer at Al Aqsa Sports Club, ActionAid’s partner in Gaza, said: 

“The drop in temperatures and heavy rainfall have made it nearly impossible for families to stay warm in makeshift tents. Children, the elderly and vulnerable groups are struggling in the cold without insulation or proper roofing. Tents are not suitable for winter conditions which poses serious risks, respiratory illness and other health complications as winter deepens. Crowded conditions and temporary shelters make it easy for illness like colds, flu and other infections [to] spread quickly.”

Despite the 60-day ceasefire in Lebanon which came into effect yesterday, attacks by Israeli forces over the past months have caused widespread destruction to residential buildings, displacing almost 700,000 people since September. Almost 190,000 of them are still living in shelters – mostly schools and public buildings – which do not have the facilities to protect against freezing temperatures. 

Eva Dbouk, Head of Programmes for ActionAid’s partner in Lebanon, the Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering (RDFL), said: “There are many people whose backup money has run out. Most of the shelters do not have heating and even those that have heating systems do not have fuel to run them. Yes, we have a ceasefire now, but many people here still cannot go home because their homes were destroyed. So, they are stuck here in the cold without even blankets or warm clothing.”

ActionAid is calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the entry of essential aid into Gaza to help people survive the winter.

Sawsan Issa, Regional Humanitarian Advisor for ActionAid in the Arab Region, said: 

“Hundreds of thousands of families in Gaza and Lebanon have been forced to find shelter wherever they can, and often they have no more than a piece of fabric to protect them from the wet and cold. In Beirut, you can see people in the street searching through bins for plastic to burn to keep warm. In Gaza, where it was hard to imagine any greater misery, what little people have left is now being washed away by floods.” 

“The escalations in both Lebanon and Gaza originate from the same source: Israel’s military actions, under the same government, with the same allies, and the same arms suppliers. A permanent ceasefire is urgently needed in both Lebanon and Gaza now, and civilians must be protected. States must suspend arms sales to Israel given the risks of arms being used in causing harm to civilians and damage to homes and civilian infrastructure.”

*Name has been changed to protect identity.