Palestinians in Gaza Urgently Seek Short-Term Shelter Amid Crisis
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Hashim Sheikh
- . February 3, 2025
- . Update: February 3, 2025 9:23 pm
Palestinians are requesting billions of dollars in humanitarian relief as the war in Gaza has ceased. This aid includes everything from heavy equipment to remove debris to tents and caravans to shelter those displaced by Israeli airstrikes.
Even before the enormous burden of long-term restoration starts, one Palestinian Authority official projected that $6.5 billion would be needed immediately for temporary housing for Gaza’s population of over two million.
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East predicted last week that reconstruction would take ten to fifteen years. However, Gazans will need to find housing before then.
Gaza has urgent demands for 200,000 tents and 60,000 caravans according to Hamas, the militant Palestinian organisation that has acted swiftly to regain control of the territory since a temporary ceasefire started last month.
Furthermore, it states that heavy digging equipment is urgently needed to start removing the millions of tonnes of debris left over from the conflict both to make room for new homes and to recover the estimated 10,000 or more dead that are buried there.
Heavy equipment was ready at the border gate and would be transferred into Gaza beginning Tuesday, according to two Egyptian sources.
According to Antoine Renard, a spokesman with the World Food Programme, Gaza’s food imports have increased since the ceasefire and were already two or three times monthly levels prior to the truce.
