On Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, a multistory structure in Gaza City gave way, killing 21 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The building had become a makeshift refuge for families who lost everything in the Israel-Hamas conflict, and its sudden failure underscored the desperate conditions many Palestinians face as reconstruction stalls.
Um Mohammad Adas, whose relatives perished in the tragedy, described the scene: “Now, they are lying in the street homeless and with absolutely nothing,” she said, adding that even the clothing worn by survivors had been borrowed. Across the street, Ahmad Arafat explained why many families cannot leave the rubble: “We don’t have money to go somewhere else… and we can’t afford to buy tents like other people.”
Unsafe dwellings become the only option
Engineers and humanitarian workers warn that thousands of homes damaged in the 2023 war remain structurally compromised. The Palestinian Ministry of Public Works identified more than 2,000 buildings at risk of collapse on the day of the incident, while the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported five shelter collapses during the first week of September alone. In one surveyed Gaza City neighborhood, 22% of buildings were deemed on the brink of failure.
Alam Zakout, living with his family inside the damaged block, summed up the dilemma: “What forces people to live in these places is that there is no shelter other than this shelter… I have nothing other than this house.” The lack of alternatives pushes residents into spaces that are structurally unsound, especially during rainstorms when water seeps through cracked concrete and exposed rebar, further weakening the walls. A recent report found that 71% of surveyed households experienced flooding since the previous winter.
Humanitarian aid throttled by security restrictions
The broader shelter crisis stems from a blockade on reconstruction materials. Israel has refused entry to timber and emergency shelter kits on two occasions in late August and early September, categorising them as potential dual-use items that could be repurposed by militants. The Norwegian Refugee Council highlighted the impact: “No tent supplies are getting into Gaza. People are willing to risk it because there isn’t a suitable alternative.” The council also notes that over 320,000 homes—affecting 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million inhabitants—remain damaged.
COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution, claims it “regularly facilitates and encourages the entry of shelter supplies,” yet it also cites genuine security concerns about Hamas possibly exploiting construction materials. Meanwhile, a joint World Bank-United Nations damage assessment from April estimated that more than 1 million Gazans are living in unsafe displacement sites, with 76% of residential units damaged or destroyed.
These constraints leave the population with stark choices: stay in precarious, damaged buildings or move to overcrowded tent camps that lack basic sanitation. As Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council put it, the scarcity of tent supplies makes the risk of staying in a crumbling structure appear the lesser evil.
Living amid ongoing conflict
Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war, violence has persisted despite a ceasefire reached in October 2025. Local health officials report that Israeli strikes since the ceasefire have killed at least 1,375 people, adding to a total death toll of more than 73,821 Palestinians, half of whom are women and children. The relentless conflict, combined with blocked reconstruction, has turned Gaza into a landscape where shelter insecurity is the daily reality for the majority of its residents.
With winter approaching and the threat of further rain-induced damage looming, humanitarian actors continue to press for the unrestricted flow of timber, emergency kits, excavators, and other essential equipment. Until such materials can reach the ground, families like those of Um Mohammad Adas and Ahmad Arafat will remain caught between collapsing walls and the scarcity of safe alternatives.
