The partially collapsed roof above Masada Abu Jarad’s apartment is now made up of broken concrete with twisted steel bars protruding from its edges.
asserted
bars → collapse → edges
And underneath the section of the room that is now open to the elements after the building’s partial collapse, Masada’s family have pitched a tent to provide shelter.
asserted
family → pitch → shelter
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asserted
list → announce → crisis
The 60-year-old knows the structure is dangerous.
asserted
structure → know → ?
The Palestinian Red Crescent and the Civil Defence visited the family last week and warned them that they should leave.
asserted
they → visit → them
But in Gaza, where Israel refuses to allow proper reconstruction to take place after almost three years of its genocidal war, there are few places for them to go.
asserted
them → refuse → war
“We have no options,” Masada says.
asserted
Masada → have → options
“I want to leave, but who will give me an alternative?”
asserted
who → want → alternative
She has lived in the building in Gaza City’s Palestine Square area for the past year, after returning to northern Gaza from displacement earlier in the war.
asserted
She → live → war
Masada’s family is originally from Beit Lahiya in the far north of the Strip, but had to leave early in the war after Israel decimated the area.
asserted
Israel → have → area
They are still unable to return.
asserted
They → return → ?
After repeated displacement, the prospect of moving again without a safe destination has become exhausting.
asserted
prospect → repeat → destination
And even if they could move, the cost is prohibitive.
uncertain
cost → move → ?
“Even if there is a better place, tell me how I can afford to rent it,” Masada said.
asserted
Masada → be → it
Masada’s experience reflects a wider housing crisis across Gaza for the Palestinians who have survived Israel’s war, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians.
asserted
which → reflect → Palestinians
A joint assessment by the United Nations, World Bank, and European Union found that 371,888 housing units, 76.6 percent of the housing stock, had been destroyed or damaged as of October 2025.
asserted
units → find → October
The assessment also found that rebuilding Gaza will need more than $71bn over the next decade.
asserted
rebuilding → find → decade
The dangers of Gaza’s depleted and damaged housing stock became starkly visible on September 16, when a six-storey war-damaged residential building in Gaza City collapsed, killing 21 people, including 12 children, according to the UN and Gaza Civil Defence.
uncertain
building → deplete → UN
The collapse has become a warning for families living in other damaged structures.
asserted
collapse → become → structures
‘I stay awake so they can sleep’
Abdullah Abu Hajar, 40, lives with his wife and five children in the al-Najma building in Gaza City’s southern Remal neighbourhood.
asserted
Hajar → stay → neighbourhood
About 17 families, roughly 50 to 60 people, are living there, according to Abdullah.
uncertain
families → live → Abdullah
On the outside walls, municipal notices warn residents and passers-by that the building is unsafe and at risk of collapse.
asserted
building → warn → collapse
At night, while his wife and children try to sleep, Abdullah stays awake and listens.
asserted
Abdullah → try → night
Every unfamiliar sound, such as concrete shifting, stones moving or an unexplained creaking somewhere inside the building, puts him on alert.
asserted
stones → shift → alert
“I stay awake all night, keeping watch,” he said.
asserted
he → stay → watch
“I can’t close my eyes.
asserted
I → close → eyes
I keep just listening to sounds around me.”
asserted
I → listen → me
Abdullah explained that he feels worried for his children, even though they have adapted to the danger.
asserted
they → explain → danger
But he has not.
asserted
he → have → ?
And after the September 16 building collapse, he grew even more fearful.
asserted
he → grow → collapse
Since then, he said, he has barely slept.
asserted
he → say → ?
“I’m already on edge,” he said.
asserted
he → ’m → edge
“But I don’t know where I can go.”
asserted
I → know → ?
Abdullah and his family were displaced from Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza after it was attacked by Israel, and moved repeatedly during the war, eventually finding the al-Najma building.
asserted
it → displace → building
His extended family faces the same uncertainty.
asserted
family → face → uncertainty
Abdullah said that one of his relatives has been moving between southern and northern Gaza, looking for a place where he can pitch a tent.
asserted
he → say → tent
“I told him to come and stay with us,” Abdullah said.
asserted
Abdullah → tell → us
At the same time, he has nowhere else to go.”
asserted
he → have → nowhere
For Islam Hassanein, 36, the same fears are entwined with the place she calls home.
asserted
she → entwine → place
A mother of five, Islam has spent nearly a year living with her family in a single room on the third floor of a damaged building.
asserted
Islam → spend → building
…and 31 more, not listed.
The Aporia
