Gaza Shelters Deteriorate as Winter Preparations Face Growing Obstacles

(MENAFN) Years of displacement amid Israel’s war on Gaza have severely weakened temporary shelters throughout the enclave, while restrictions on essential supplies and insufficient funding are obstructing humanitarian efforts to prepare for winter, a senior UN migration official says.

Karl Baker, regional crisis coordinator for the Gaza response at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), explains that some Palestinian families have been forced to flee their homes as many as eight times. Repeated relocations have damaged or destroyed tents and other makeshift shelters, leaving displaced people repeatedly searching for replacement accommodation.

“When they move, all those goods that they currently have or did have either get destroyed, or they have to seek new shelter,” Baker told UN News.

Even essential supplies, including tarpaulins, require replacement approximately every six months. However, humanitarian organizations have struggled to deliver sufficient quantities of these materials into Gaza, according to Baker.

He says relief agencies must now shift their approach away from short-term emergency arrangements and toward more durable transitional housing that can offer displaced families better protection.

However, access to construction materials needed for sturdier roofs, concrete flooring and stronger walls remains restricted under Israel’s “dual-use” policies, which impose controls on certain goods over security concerns.

“After three years of war, we do need to improve the level of shelter which is inside, and move further away from temporary and more toward transitional type of shelter,” he said.

Baker adds that the IOM maintains regular communication with Israeli authorities, but some materials required to improve shelter conditions continue to be denied entry on security grounds.

MENAFN18102026000045017640ID1111825949