How can you provide shelter to people in a humanitarian crisis when there are no buildings or building materials available? This is the main struggle for Alison Ely and her colleagues in Gaza.
Nearly a year into her assignment, conditions in Gaza have become worse. Alison is currently on her fourth rotation to Gaza since January, as NORCAP's Sub National Shelter Cluster Coordinator, working with NRC. She coordinates with organisations and partners to provide access to dignified and safe shelter for the 1.9 million displaced Palestinians in Gaza, who account for 90 per cent of the population.
Alison currently is staying at NRC's guesthouse in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip with the rest of the NRC team. She works alongside two Palestinians from Gaza, Mohammed and Iyad, who have worked with the Shelter Cluster for ten years. Both have lost their homes and are themselves displaced. Despite what seems like an impossible task, working alongside dedicated colleagues and partners, who are all still striving and pushing through is what keeps Alison going.
"The people here are incredible. I don't like the word resilient because people shouldn't have to be resilient. The hospitality that we're shown here is incredible. The people are just welcoming. The work is so intense that you build quite quick relationships with your colleagues."
Early in her assignment, Alison remembers vividly someone telling her that hostilities might continue until the summer.
It seemed out of this world. Looking back, we thought by this point we'd be doing proper shelter response because we would have a ceasefire.
More than a year after Israel began bombarding Gaza and ordered a complete siege of the enclave, the nightmare for the Palestinians continues with no ceasefire in sight.
The needs are immense, and resources are scarce. Israeli bombardments have destroyed or damaged most of Gaza's housing stock. Alison estimates that about 50 per cent of families in Gaza have no homes to return to, with an additional 30-40 per cent of homes needing repairs to be inhabitable.
A standard shelter response involves repairing damaged homes, including reinstalling windows, fixing holes, refitting kitchens, and more. However, the lack of shelter materials due to Israeli restrictions on aid and access within Gaza remains a significant burden.
Winter is coming - with little to no shelter materials
In September alone, Israel allowed only nine trucks of shelter materials into Gaza, while an estimated 25 trucks per week are needed to meet the population's needs to prepare for the winter. As the cold and rainy season is approaching, the situation will become even more critical.
It is frustrating to not be able to do more, knowing the materials are in storage waiting in Egypt and Jordan ... there comes a point when you can't do much with nothing,
Alison describes as the disheartening part of her job
She says that many of the 1.9 million displaced people have been forced to move multiple times, the average is around five times, but some have been forced to uproot 11 times so far.
Even though people might have had shelter materials to start with when they were first displaced, by now they probably don't have them anymore. Often you can't take them with you, and even if you can, they deteriorate in quality after a few months.
Where are people currently living?
People are living in tents, in so-called makeshift shelters, collective shelters run by UNRWA or other organisations, schools, and community centres. These centres are overcrowded and lack adequate space and bathroom facilities. People use whatever materials they can find - timber, pallets, frames from damaged buildings, old pieces of steel - to build structures. Sometimes blankets, carpets, flour sacks, or sheets are used as cover for their shelters, but this does not offer the protection and safety that people sorely need.
Israel has unilaterally designated only 16 per cent of Gaza a "humanitarian zone", which despite its name is not safe from attack. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain outside the "humanitarian zone", and access to these areas is extremely difficult because it requires prior coordination with Israeli authorities. Access is often denied or obstructed, making it difficult for partners to reach those in need and provide assistance.
Small wins
Even though they have limited materials, partners still manage to respond to shelter requests in many ways. After a recent Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza, there were requests for bedding and plastic sheeting to seal off damage. The Shelter Cluster team notified their partners hoping that someone could support with these few items. At the end of the day, partners managed to provide both plastic sheeting and blankets and mattresses. For Alison and her team this was a small win in the grander scheme.
Normalcy in a horrific context
One of the biggest changes Alison has seen is people trying to get on with their lives despite the horrific conditions.
Life becomes very normal, for good or for bad, you get used to things. You have to find ways to cope. One of the biggest changes I have seen since earlier this year, is seeing people try to return to normal activities amidst the horror, seeing a couple of kids with backpacks going to participate in education activities, men sitting along the coast on plastic chairs having their coffee and chatting.
Alison often goes to the Joint Humanitarian Operation Centre (JHOC) to coordinate with other clusters and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It is a place to have conversations and talk about what needs doing, about which challenges they are facing and how they can work together.
Currently, Alison and her colleagues have access to fresh fruits and vegetables as commercial trucks are allowed in, but this supply can be cut off at any time and prices are increasing dramatically. Earlier this year, Alison says that there wasn't much fresh produce at all. Fully aware of her privileged status as an international she knows not to take anything for granted.
You never know when items like yogurt, fruits, eggs, or vegetables will be available. For us internationals, it's manageable to survive on only bread because we know we'll leave soon. But for the local staff, this uncertainty remains a daily struggle.
Carry on
As our conversation wraps up, Alison shares her plans for the evening: prioritising trucks for the following week because only a limited number of supplies are allowed in, planning a strategic advisory group meeting, and working on trying to retrieve shelter items stuck at the crossings into Gaza. She'll head back to the guesthouse, have some instant noodles for dinner, a little rest and carry on.
I know we have to balance things, but when you're physically here, it's all-consuming, and being out of Gaza can make everything else feel pointless at times.
Recently, Alison and the NRC team were some of the first NGO staff aside from medical teams able to stay overnight in Gaza City where they met with shelter partners in northern Gaza and visited some of their projects.