Hundreds of displaced Palestinian families are living in overcrowded tent camps along the Gaza City coastline, where temperatures inside shelters can exceed 50C and access to clean water remains critical, according to aid workers.
Images show row after row of makeshift shelters stretching into the distance, surrounded by rubble and damaged buildings. The photographs lay bare the hardship for Palestinians who have endured nearly three years of conflict.
Living conditions in the camps
Seba, 28, a translator for British charity UK-Med who lives in Gaza City, said: “People really suffer in this heat. I lived in a tent for two years and the hardest thing was during the summer time.”
She added: “Access to clean drinking water is still difficult. The results of having less clean water affect people when it comes to skin diseases and this is really spreading.”
Heat and health risks
Shurouq, 32, who works for Save the Children in the enclave, explained that tents can act like greenhouses, trapping heat with little ventilation. When outside temperatures feel like 37C, inside a tent they can feel like more than 50C.
“The air is heavy because we are living by the sea, where the humidity is relentless. And overcrowding makes the situation much more difficult,” she said.
Shurouq, whose husband was killed in the early weeks of the war, has been displaced many times with her three-year-old daughter. She said: “We witness increasing cases of children suffering from heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion, sunstroke, severe dehydration, heat rash, skin infections resulting from sweating and poor hygiene, and worsening malnutrition and organ failure due to fluid loss and poor appetite.”
Background of the conflict
The conflict was sparked by the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel in 2023 which killed about 1,200 people, with 251 hostages taken. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has left over 73,000 dead, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
Israel has rejected US President Donald Trump’s 15-point Gaza peace plan, saying it will not withdraw troops until Hamas is fully disarmed.
