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As Winter Approaches, I Fear for Our Two Families Living in Tents in Gaza

My family and my sister’s family are enduring the hardships of displacement together in Gaza. We are two families sharing the difficult conditions of life in a single tent. There are 12 of us in total, including four children. My sister has been separated from her husband since the beginning of the war.

At first, we spent 50 days displaced in a UNRWA school. Since December 1, 2023, we have been living in tents. Now, as another winter approaches, I feel deeply worried about what lies ahead for our two families, especially the children.

Our tent is old and worn out after years of exposure to the sun. The ground beneath us is bare dirt, and whenever it rains, water seeps into our tent from below. The tent’s wooden frame is also fragile and has been damaged and broken more than once by strong winds. During those storms, we sometimes had no safe place to sleep until morning.

The hardest part is watching the children suffer. Sometimes, the cold keeps them from sleeping. When strong winds batter the tent, they repeatedly wake up throughout the night because of the frightening noise. It is heartbreaking to see children living in fear instead of feeling safe in their own home.

We have very few blankets and warm clothes. After bathing the children, we often have no other dry clothes to change them into, and drying laundry is difficult. Their clothes are too thin to protect them from the winter cold. We have no electricity and no safe way to heat our living space. Lighting a fire outdoors is dangerous because it could cause the tent to catch fire.

Our financial situation is extremely difficult. Work opportunities are scarce, prices continue to rise, and providing even the most basic necessities for 12 people has become a daily struggle.

Before winter conditions become more severe, we urgently need a safer place to stay, new tarpaulins for our tent to prevent rainwater from leaking inside, warm clothes and blankets for the children, and financial assistance to cover our basic needs.

I am sharing these photos to help people understand what life inside a tent means for our two families. We are not asking for luxury. We simply hope for a safe, dry place to sleep, warmth for the children, and a chance to face the winter without fearing every storm.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story and for remembering the 12 people whose lives lie behind these words, especially the four children who deserve to feel safe and warm this winter.

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