In Gaza City, families living in tents reveal a shared, grim reality.<\/p>\n
Many have been forced to flee the fighting dozens of times. Most find themselves homeless and hungry while facing an uncertain future.<\/p>\n
Khadija Manoun and her daughter in the space she uses as a kitchen inside a destroyed building.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Khadija Manoun: Kitchen of life\u2019s leftovers<\/strong><\/h2>\nKhadija Manoun said she and her family have moved more than 20 times, from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip to a destroyed building in western Gaza, in search of shelter. She had owned a new fully furnished house, which she had built with a bank loan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI furnished my house well, with tiles and electrical appliances,\u201d she said. \u201cIt had only been three years since I had the house. Then the war came and everything was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, everything has changed, Ms. Manoun said. Her spacious, fully equipped kitchen is now just a corner in the rubble, where a solitary soap dish borrowed from a neighbour sits. Metal utensils have been replaced with plastic tea containers to serve 10 people.<\/p>\n
The bathroom was reduced to a corner covered with pieces of cloth that had been blankets. Her dressing room is now home to tattered suitcases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is now my closet where I put everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI had a bedroom that had cost me 10,000 shekels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her family sleeps on simple mattresses. Clean drinking water is a luxury that Khadija chases after, running between trucks, often returning with empty containers.<\/p>\n
Amid all this, she sometimes reminisces, scrolling through photos on her mobile phone of her old home and the meals they used to eat.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Badriya](\"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/14-07-2025_UN_News_Gaza_Badriya.jpg\/image1170x530cropped.jpg\" "\\"Badriya")
\n<\/div>\nBadriya Barrawi, a displaced person in Gaza, is living among the ruins of destroyed\u00a0buildings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Badriya Barawi: Exhausted by hunger<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn her modest tent on the beach west of Gaza City, Badriya Barawi, from Beit Lahia, sits, arranging what remains of her life. Tears stream from her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave mercy on us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are fed up and exhausted, mentally and physically. We can\u2019t bear it any longer. How long will this life go on?\u201d<\/p>\n
She says her children are crying from the heat and hunger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t had bread for three days. This morning, I fed the children hummus, but is that enough for their stomachs?” said Ms. Barawi, who suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.<\/p>\n
She said she collapses daily from a lack of food.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Hiyam](\"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/14-07-2025-UN-News-Gaza-HCrisis.jpg\/image1170x530cropped.jpg\" "\\"Hiyam")
\n<\/div>\nHiyam Zayed is displaced from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hiyam Zayed: Trampled garden of dreams<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn a nearby tent, Hiyam Zayed and her eight daughters eat lentil soup without bread. Describing her former home, she said there were six rooms and a garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy in my home,\u201d she said. \u201cMy daughters and I used to have fun there. They played on the roof or inside the rooms. We had a beautiful garden in front of the house, and we grew plants and ate its produce and raised chickens. My daughters were very happy. We fed them the best food and dressed them in the best clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also said she used to have a washing machine, a fully equipped kitchen and a refrigerator \u201cfull of goodies\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now, everything is gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo food, no washing machine, no feelings: we\u2019ve become depressed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughters wear the worst clothes. I can\u2019t find a way to bathe them. I used to turn on the water tap at home and water would run for drinking or bathing. Now, we live in a tent in the sand. I light a fire to cook after I used to have gas. I borrow cooking utensils.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are we to blame for what happened, and who bears responsibility?\u201d Ms. Zayed asked. \u201cWhat is my fault and my children\u2019s fault when we are displaced from one place to another and they die of hunger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\nBadriya Barrawi, a displaced person in Gaza, is living among the ruins of destroyed\u00a0buildings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Badriya Barawi: Exhausted by hunger<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn her modest tent on the beach west of Gaza City, Badriya Barawi, from Beit Lahia, sits, arranging what remains of her life. Tears stream from her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave mercy on us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are fed up and exhausted, mentally and physically. We can\u2019t bear it any longer. How long will this life go on?\u201d<\/p>\n
She says her children are crying from the heat and hunger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t had bread for three days. This morning, I fed the children hummus, but is that enough for their stomachs?” said Ms. Barawi, who suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.<\/p>\n
She said she collapses daily from a lack of food.<\/p>\n
\n\n<\/div>\nHiyam Zayed is displaced from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hiyam Zayed: Trampled garden of dreams<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn a nearby tent, Hiyam Zayed and her eight daughters eat lentil soup without bread. Describing her former home, she said there were six rooms and a garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy in my home,\u201d she said. \u201cMy daughters and I used to have fun there. They played on the roof or inside the rooms. We had a beautiful garden in front of the house, and we grew plants and ate its produce and raised chickens. My daughters were very happy. We fed them the best food and dressed them in the best clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also said she used to have a washing machine, a fully equipped kitchen and a refrigerator \u201cfull of goodies\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now, everything is gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo food, no washing machine, no feelings: we\u2019ve become depressed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughters wear the worst clothes. I can\u2019t find a way to bathe them. I used to turn on the water tap at home and water would run for drinking or bathing. Now, we live in a tent in the sand. I light a fire to cook after I used to have gas. I borrow cooking utensils.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are we to blame for what happened, and who bears responsibility?\u201d Ms. Zayed asked. \u201cWhat is my fault and my children\u2019s fault when we are displaced from one place to another and they die of hunger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\nHiyam Zayed is displaced from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Hiyam's](\"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/14-07-2025_UN_News_Gaza.jpg\/image1170x530cropped.jpg\" "\\"Hiyam's")
\n<\/div>\n