‘Helpless’: The families facing winter in tents on the beach in Gaza

Families are living beside the sea because displacement has made safer land unavailable or unaffordable. The beach near al-Qarara port became a last resort after other displacement areas grew overcrowded. These families cannot afford better shelter, even as winter brings stronger winds, rain and waves.

Anas al-Shami’s family of six was displaced from Bani Suheila after it became part of the so-called “Yellow Zone.” He searched for land but found overcrowding and high rental costs. His family therefore remained in a damaged tent near the port.

The location creates constant danger. Last winter, seawater and rain flooded the family’s tent while they slept, soaking bedding and belongings. Despite trying throughout the year, they found nowhere else to go. The beach offers shelter from displacement, but not reliable protection from winter weather.

The barriers are improvised seawater defences made from large cooking pots that can no longer be used. Repeated exposure to flames, corrosion and holes damaged the pots. Instead of discarding them, families and the Mayasem Association reuse them to protect tents and shared spaces.

Each barrier uses three pots donated by World Central Kitchen. The pots are filled with earth and stacked on top of one another. Together, they reach about 150 centimetres in height. Their packed soil and stacked shape form a solid wall alongside the tents.

The wall slows or holds back incoming seawater and helps prevent waves from reaching shelter sites. The idea first protected the association’s safe space, where education, cultural and arts programmes take place. It was later adapted for displaced families. It provides relief, but only temporarily.

The shelter crisis is vast. The article reports about 200,000 dilapidated tents across Gaza, housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Those affected include children, women and people with disabilities. Many shelters are too damaged to withstand winter rain, wind and seawater.

The article identifies families living in especially dangerous coastal locations, including near al-Qarara port. It describes tents exposed to rising waves and flooding, but it does not provide a completed figure for all families in such locations. The text ends after beginning the sentence, “Some 7,800 of them are lo”.

That incomplete figure cannot safely be interpreted. What is clear is that the shortage is widespread and urgent. Tents and caravans remain critically scarce, while damaged municipal and civil-defence equipment further reduces protection for displaced people during winter storms.

When rain, seawater and waves enter the tents, families lose the basic protection a shelter should provide. Bedding, clothing and personal belongings become soaked. Damp conditions also make it difficult to keep children warm, dry or healthy during winter.

Anas al-Shami recalls waking to find his children lying in water after last winter’s flooding. Their belongings were repeatedly drenched, and the tent became a pond. Ibrahim Abu Tair says flooding forced his family to endure the cold in the open after water inundated their shelter.

The consequences can be severe. Al-Shami says repeated exposure to water, cold and damp caused serious illness that threatened his children’s lives. Families also lose sleep because wind and rising waves signal another possible flood. Without safer shelter, each winter storm can become a health and survival emergency.

Moving requires both available land and money, but displaced families often have neither. Families searching for space in displacement areas encounter overcrowding. Those who find possible land may face rental costs they cannot afford. This pushes people toward exposed places such as the beach.

Anas al-Shami searched for land after his family left Bani Suheila. He found displacement areas too crowded and rents too high, so his family stayed in a damaged tent near al-Qarara port. Ibrahim Abu Tair’s family shares a cramped tent with seven children.

The wider shortage makes relocation even harder. Gaza’s Winter Emergency Committee reports that tents and caravans are in critically short supply. Israeli authorities continue to prevent their entry, alongside construction materials and fuel. As a result, families face another winter in shelters unable to block wind, rain or waves.

Restrictions affect protection before, during and after a storm. When tents and caravans cannot enter Gaza, displaced families have fewer chances to replace unsafe shelters. Blocking construction materials also limits repairs and the creation of sturdier protection. Fuel shortages threaten the machinery and generators needed for emergency work.

The article reports that Israeli authorities continue preventing tents, caravans, critical construction materials and fuel from entering Gaza. It also says Israeli forces destroyed about 70 percent of municipalities’ essential operational equipment and 90 percent of civil-defence rescue equipment.

Together, these conditions weaken the response to winter flooding. Machinery and generators may soon stop functioning because of the fuel crisis. That would limit flood response, rescue operations and road clearing. Families in exposed tents would then face storms with fewer shelters, fewer working machines and less emergency capacity.

Beaches are especially dangerous in winter because tents stand close to seawater, rising waves and strong coastal winds. Rain can add water from above while waves push water inland. A tent placed near the shore offers little resistance, so flooding can quickly reach bedding, children and belongings.

Near al-Qarara port, families live only a few metres from the sea. Last winter, seawater and rain flooded Anas al-Shami’s tent while the family slept. Ibrahim Abu Tair also describes water inundating his tent and forcing his family into the cold outdoors.

The article does not specifically discuss dry riverbeds or rainwater collection areas. In general, such low-lying or water-collecting places can become hazardous during heavy storms, but that broader explanation is not detailed in the source. The source’s evidence focuses on exposed coastal tents and winter flooding.