Amid freezing temperatures and heavy rain in war-torn central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, displaced Palestinian father Tayseer Obaid resorted to digging for a semblance of consolation.
In the clay soil of the encampment space the place his household had been displaced by the warfare, Obaid dug a sq. gap almost 2 meters (6.56 toes) deep and capped it with a tarpaulin stretched over an improvised wood A-frame to maintain out the rain.
“I had an idea to dig into the ground to expand the space as it was very limited,” Obaid mentioned.
“So I dug 90 centimeters, it was okay and I felt the space get a little bigger,” he mentioned from the shelter whereas his youngsters performed in a small swing he connected to the plank that serves as a beam for the tarpaulin.
In time, Obaid managed to dig 180 centimeters deep after which lined the underside with mattresses, at which level, he mentioned, “it felt comfortable, sort of.”
With previous flour sacks that he full of sand, he paved the entry to the shelter to maintain it from getting muddy, whereas he carved steps into the aspect of the pit.
The clay soil is each smooth sufficient to be dug with out energy instruments and powerful sufficient to face by itself.
The pit gives some safety from Israeli airstrikes, however Obaid mentioned he feared the clay soil may collapse ought to a strike land shut sufficient.
“If an explosion happened around us and the soil collapsed, this shelter would become our grave.”
Makeshift shelters
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced by Israel’s genocidal warfare that has ravaged the Palestinian territory for over 14 months.
The U.N.’s satellite tv for pc middle (UNOSAT) decided in September 2024 that 66% of Gaza’s buildings had been broken or utterly destroyed by the warfare, by which Israel has carried out indiscriminate bombardment.
For Palestinian civilians fleeing the preventing, the dearth of secure buildings means many have needed to collect in makeshift camps, principally in central and southern Gaza.
Shortages attributable to the whole blockade of the coastal territory imply that development supplies are scarce, and the displaced should make do with what’s at hand.
‘Freezing to demise’
On prime of the hygiene issues created by the dearth of correct water and sanitation for the hundreds of individuals crammed into the camps, winter climate has introduced its personal set of hardships.
On Thursday, the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee company, UNRWA, warned that eight newborns died of hypothermia and 74 youngsters died “amid the brutal conditions of winter” in 2025.
“We enter this New Year carrying the same horrors as the last – there’s been no progress and no solace. Children are now freezing to death,” UNRWA’s spokeswoman Louise Wateridge mentioned.
Israel’s genocidal warfare has killed at the least 46,537 Palestinians, principally girls and youngsters, since October 2023, in accordance with the Health Ministry.
Obaid’s sunken shelter gives some safety from the chilly winter nights, however not sufficient.
For heat, he dug a chimney-like construction and fireside by which he burns discarded paper and cardboard.
Though Obaid improved his lot, his scenario stays bleak. “If I had a better option, I wouldn’t be living in a hole that looks like a grave,” he says.
Source: www.dailysabah.com