<\/p>\n
Gaza City<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 One month into the latest ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a fragile calm has brought long-awaited relief for families who have endured unimaginable suffering and repeated displacement. For the third time in over two years, after previously collapsed ceasefires, there is a small space for hope \u2013 a renewed opportunity for survival, safety, and dignity for nearly 2 million Palestinians.<\/p>\n Thousands of families remain without a roof over their heads. For months on end, many have lain awake beneath the open sky. With homes destroyed and displacement repeating time and time again, the stars above have become both a comfort and a painful reminder of all that has been lost.<\/p>\n Sabah, her husband Ahmad, and their seven children spent weeks sleeping in the open after losing their home. The pavement became their bed; the sky, their only blanket. \u201cWe fled from Shuja\u2019iya to Rimal, then to the south \u2013 Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat \u2013 and then back to Shuja’iya,\u201d Ahmad explains. \u201cEvery time we move, we lose more of what little we have.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmad suffers from heart disease, with no access to medication. One of their children sustained a head injury and lost his memory. Another fell from the fifth floor during a strike. Another died of hepatitis.<\/p>\n \u201cShe passed away because I couldn\u2019t get her the medicine she needed,\u201d Sabah says. \u201cI didn\u2019t even have food \u2013 not even a sprinkle of salt.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the ceasefire, life had become a daily battle for survival. Families went days without food or clean water. \u201cThe hardest thing for a father,\u201d Ahmad says, \u201cis to see your children thirsty, to have water but not allow them to drink because it has to last for days.\u201d<\/p>\n As the weeks stretched on, the toll deepened. \u201cThe strain is heavy. Perhaps more than we can bear,\u201d adds Sabah. Families like theirs are not alone. According to the Shelter Cluster\u2019s assessments, 1.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are in need of emergency shelter assistance after a nearly six-month ban on all shelter materials.<\/p>\n Now, the ceasefire has created a fragile opportunity, and with it, a responsibility to act.<\/p>\n Since the new ceasefire began on 10 October, families have continued to move across Gaza in search of safe shelter, often finding their homes reduced to rubble. At the time of writing, site management partners have observed over\u00a0639,000 movements<\/a><\/em>\u00a0from the south to Gaza City, with many people heading further north toward Jabalya and Beit Hanun. Many are still taking shelter in tented or collective displacement sites, often in open areas with no protection or in damaged buildings that offer little safety.<\/p>\n A humanitarian scale-up following the ceasefire is now underway. With its global expertise in shelter and site management, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is part of this critical effort.<\/p>\n Over the past two months, IOM has dispatched more than 660,000 hygiene and shelter items through its Common Pipeline Programme, including over 11,000 tents. These items are distributed to displaced families by IOM Common Pipeline partners across Gaza. These supplies provide basic protection and offer a measure of dignity to families like Sabah\u2019s who have endured insecurity for so long.<\/p>\n For this fragile calm to lead to sustainable recovery, humanitarian access must improve. IOM and its partners call for the safe, rapid, and unimpeded movement of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Displaced people must also be able to move freely and return home voluntarily as soon as conditions allow. Humanitarian actors must have sustained access to reach people wherever they are.<\/p>\n IOM\u2019s warehouses are stocked, trucks are prepared, and relief is ready to be delivered once access is granted. Opening crossings into Gaza and ensuring timely clearance procedures are essential for aid to move. Everything is in place \u2013 except the access needed to reach those who need help most.<\/p>\n As winter approaches, the urgency grows. Without adequate shelter materials, families will face cold nights under the same sky that has already witnessed so much suffering.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, a fragile hope is returning to Gaza as recovery work begins. The world cannot allow this ceasefire to fail. It must deliver more than calm \u2013 it must deliver aid,\u201d says Mohammad Najjar, Programme Manager at the Beit Lahia Development Association (BLDA), an IOM Common Pipeline partner inside Gaza.<\/p>\n Najjar stresses that winterization support is now a top priority. \u201cFamilies urgently need tents, blankets, and warm clothing. The cold is setting in. Without shelter and warmth, the suffering will deepen.\u201d Last winter, more than a dozen people, including infants, died from hypothermia. Similar deaths can be prevented this year if families are adequately prepared and receive support before the harsh weather sets in.<\/p>\n \u201cThe long road to recovery is already being paved by Palestinian humanitarian workers, with the support of the international community,\u201d Najjar adds. \u201cBut it will take peace, determination, and collective will to ensure that the safety and dignity of Palestinians in Gaza are preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n Tonight, many families will once again lie beneath an open sky. The ceasefire has offered breathing space, but time is short. Winter is approaching, needs are rising fast, and families who have lost everything are waiting for the chance to rebuild their lives with dignity.<\/p>\n The support for IOM\u2019s operations in Gaza is provided by EU Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).<\/em><\/p>\n This story was written by Rayya Almuheisen, Senior Communications Assistant with IOM Gaza Response.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gaza City\u00a0\u2013 One month into the latest ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a fragile calm has brought long-awaited relief for families who have endured unimaginable suffering and repeated displacement. For the third time in over two years, after previously collapsed ceasefires, there is a small space for hope \u2013 a renewed opportunity for survival, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[6926],"document-source":[3653],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,2005,5200,2349,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-314348","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-stories","document-source-international-organization-for-migration","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314349,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314348\/revisions\/314349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=314348"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=314348"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=314348"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=314348"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=314348"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=314348"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=314348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}