‘Life in Gaza’s Shelters Is Marked by Deprivation – but Also by the Endurance of Human Dignity’

By CIVICUS
Aug 15 2025 – CIVICUS speaks with a West Bank-based Palestinian activist about her family members currently enduring the war in Gaza. She has asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 60,000 people and displaced more than two million. The Israeli government’s prolonged obstruction of humanitarian aid has now pushed people to starvation. Although people worldwide have protested in solidarity with Gazans, many states have failed to act or continue to support Israel. Civil society continues to play a crucial role in documenting human rights violations despite facing criminalisation and persecution.

What was life like in Gaza before the current war?

Before the war began following Hamas’s 7 October attack, life in Gaza embodied resilience, vitality and unwavering hope, even as the area had been deeply scarred by years of Israeli blockade and hardship. Economic and living conditions were precarious, characterised by high unemployment – particularly among young people – and heavy reliance on humanitarian aid and UNRWA, the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians.

Though many families lived below the poverty line, strong community bonds ensured mutual support. People had strong family ties and celebrated weddings and religious occasions such as Eid Al-Fitr and Ramadan, gathering to share joy despite adversity. Art, music and theatre were powerful tools for expression and resistance, with young people and artists defying the blockade through their creative endeavours.

Education was still a priority, with universities such as Al-Azhar and the Islamic University continuing despite limited resources and schools running double shifts due to overcrowding. Health services struggled with severe shortages of medicines and equipment, yet dedicated medical staff persevered.

Electricity was limited to just four to eight hours per day, and clean drinking water was scarce due to the lack of desalination facilities. Nevertheless, Gaza’s young people brimmed with creativity and ambition, working in fields such as design, e-commerce and programming, freelancing and connecting with the world through digital platforms. Despite overwhelming challenges, Gaza’s markets, cafés, coastline, universities and even refugee camps pulsed with life. People were determined to live fully and joyfully even under oppression.

How has displacement affected your family?

Like countless others across Gaza, my family has been in a state of constant displacement, having moved yet again just two days ago. Since the current war began, they have been forced to flee 16 times, moving from north to south and east to west, each time leaving behind more of their belongings until they possessed nothing.

Displacement drains physical, emotional and mental energy, and now they have none left. Forced evacuations often follow instructions from the Israeli Defence Forces, delivered through websites, social media or leaflets dropped over shelters and neighbourhoods.

Tragically, during my family’s ninth displacement, as they evacuated a shelter under threat of bombing and headed towards the beach area, a soldier shot my mother. She was killed as she was fleeing for safety.

What’s daily life like in the shelters?

It’s a daily struggle for survival. Life is marked by overcrowding and deprivation, but also by the quiet endurance of human dignity. Entire families – often 10 to 15 people if not more – squeeze into single classrooms or tents, stripped of privacy, comfort or adequate sleeping space. Even sleep offers little relief, as people sleep on bare floors or cardboard without mattresses, exposed to extreme temperatures, under the constant threat of bombing. True rest is impossible.

Women lack basic dignity, unable to find private spaces to change clothes or use toilets. When available, food – simple staples such as rice, canned goods, lentils and bread – comes from charity or someone’s generosity. But quantities remain insufficient, with some families going days without a proper meal. Drinking water is scarce and sometimes contaminated, so it’s consumed sparingly. Mothers often go hungry to feed their children, sometimes surviving on water alone.

Bathrooms are overcrowded, poorly maintained and insufficient for the massive numbers of displaced people. Women and children endure long queues, and due to inadequate facilities, families resort to using buckets as makeshift toilets. This has fuelled the spread of skin diseases, diarrhoea and infections, particularly among children, while medicines and medical care remain almost non-existent. Pregnant women receive no proper care, and some are forced to give birth in tents or on the ground.

How are communities responding, and what support exists?

Amid this suffering, solidarity persists. People have assumed active roles in organising and distributing humanitarian aid alongside local and international organisations and individual donors, united in a collective effort to preserve life amid devastation.

Families share their meagre food supplies, distribute extra bread to neighbours and lend cooking gas when possible. Mothers exchange nappies, medicines and clothes. Young people organise simple games, songs or drawing sessions to comfort children. Neighbours console each other, and nights fill with whispered conversations, Quran recitations and collective prayers that bring moments of peace. Some women teach children to read or recite the Quran to ease their sense of loss.

However, securing even minimal aid has become increasingly difficult, often needing what feels like a miracle. Simply searching for food can prove deadly – people risk being shot or trampled in desperate crowds of hundreds of thousands seeking relief. Just two days ago, I lost my cousin while he was collecting aid. My sister’s husband and other relatives have also been killed in similar circumstances.

Despite the heartbreak, I’ve been fortunate to receive support from friends, both directly and through a GoFundMe campaign I established to raise donations for my family.

How do you assess the international response?

The international response to Gaza’s crisis has both positive and negative aspects. Many voices worldwide rejected the ongoing violence from the outset, demonstrated through widespread marches, protests and various expressions of solidarity with Gaza’s people. Conversely, others openly support the war and its devastating consequences.

Ultimately, however, political decisions continue to override popular will. The international stance remains notably weak, whether due to inability to stop the war, hold Israel accountable or propose meaningful, long-term solutions. This is also reflected in the failure to consistently deliver humanitarian aid to those most in need.

What has been keeping you and your family going?

My family and I appear destined to survive, but survival itself has become our inescapable reality – a life defined by hardship and loss. Despite all current difficulties and those yet to come, we continue clinging to fragile hope that nothing remains unchanged forever. Change is inevitable. It will come, whether through the war’s end or through our deaths.

But even if the war ends, regardless of how – whether through a deal, withdrawal or declarations of defeat or victory – this will not end our suffering. What we endure now represents one phase of torment likely to be followed by many more. Nothing in Gaza remains fit for life anymore. History seems to repeat itself in endless cycles of pain. Perhaps the only way to endure is accepting that this is our fate, something we must experience, whether we choose it or not.

SEE ALSO
‘The lesson from Gaza is clear: when AI-powered machines control who lives, human rights die’ CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Dima Samaro 16.Jul.2025
Israel vs Iran: new war begins while Gaza suffering continues CIVICUS Lens 19.Jun.2025
Gaza: a year of carnage CIVICUS Lens 07.Oct.2024

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);