The Provision of Temporary Shelter for Displaced Persons Across the Gaza Strip in the 2023-2024 War: Needs, Challenges and Alternative Solutions

author: Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute - MAS
year: 2024

The latest war on Gaza Strip 2023/2024 has brought the largest devastation to the Strip and created the largest displacement situations, displacing many individuals and families estimated at 1.9 million, corresponding to 90% of the total population of the Gaza Strip. The background paper prepared on the topic aims to examine the alternatives available, for emergency shelter units for
displaced persons of the Gaza Strip to meet their needs pending their return to their houses. 

Providing temporary and adequate shelter is one of the main problems facing displaced persons who are forced to leave their homes. The importance of the research lies in the fact that the issue of temporary shelter in the post-2023/2024 war will constitute an urgent need, particularly since hundreds of thousands of the population have lost their houses. Different international actors
estimate that more than 300,000 housing units have been partially or completely damaged in the course of the war, implying that there will be a significant need for housing thousands of households in temporary shelters pending the reconstruction of their houses.

This process might take many years, requiring temporary shelter to be socially and economically fit and to provide these households with shelters that will protect them from the heat of summer and the cold of winter and meet their material and moral obligations throughout that period. 

Given the recent developments in structural materials and systems, there is a diversity and a multiplicity of housing alternatives available. Such alternatives include the use of materials recycled from the locations of disasters as well as of portable structural systems that are assembled quickly. Such alternatives also include the integration of sustainable systems and the provision of physical
shelters. Yet other basic needs should be met, including security for rebuilding a life pattern and fulfilling human requirements, including food and water. 

The paper examines previous experiences of temporary shelter in the Gaza Strip in addition to reviewing the international experiences of some states and cities worldwide that managed to properly provide their citizens with temporary shelter. It also compares proposed solutions through examining the factors impacting the quality of temporary shelter units and assessing the alternatives introduced to come up with the solutions that are the most commensurate with the reality of the Gaza Strip.

attachments
The Provision of Temporary Shelter for Displaced Persons Across the Gaza Strip in the 2023-2024 War