The United Nations Development Programme has begun replacing 300 tents for displaced families in Gaza City with prefabricated fiberglass housing units, in a limited effort to ease dire shelter conditions months after the ceasefire took effect.
The 19-square-meter caravans are being installed in the first displacement camp in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in southeastern Gaza City, UNDP and residents said. The move comes as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in makeshift tents, amid restrictions on building materials and delays in large-scale reconstruction.
“We’ve been asking and pleading for a while,” said Fadi Al-Asdoudi, 42, who lives with his wife and four children. “We got flooded, and our kids got sick from the winter cold and insects.”
Al-Asdoudi said his family’s tent repeatedly filled with rainwater during winter storms, and strong winds tore through the fabric. The new caravan, he said, is warmer and offers better protection from rain and pests.
Like many residents, Al-Asdoudi lost his home during the war and cannot return because it lies east of the so-called “yellow line,” an area under Israeli military control. “The children are happy,” he said. “It’s better than a tent.”
UN technical teams are installing iron bases before erecting metal frames covered with reinforced fiberglass panels. Each unit includes a tightly sealed door, ventilation windows and a simple solar-powered lighting system.
In the same camp, displaced resident Alia Al-Borno, 45, said she and her family were happy to receive a caravan and leave their worn-out tent behind. She told Al Manassa, “The most important thing is that it’s tall and I can stand inside it properly. I couldn’t stand inside the tent.”
UNDP begins replacing the tents of displaced persons with caravans in Al-Zaytoun, SE Gaza City, Feb. 16, 2026The woman said she suffers from a slipped disc, and living in a tent over the past two years has worsened her physical and psychological pain and deprived her of privacy. She added that her family lost its home in the eastern areas near the border, which are impossible to reach before a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.
Her dream, and that of her family of 10, is to return and rebuild their home, she said.
A UN source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Manassa that the number of caravans recently brought in and assembled inside the Strip does not meet the needs of all displaced families. The source said more caravans are expected in additional batches over the coming months.
The move comes as Gaza’s shelter crisis continues, with hundreds of thousands living in temporary tents since the outbreak of the war, amid restrictions on the entry of building materials and prefabricated housing and delays in reconstruction plans. That has made alternative shelter solutions, despite their limits, a temporary refuge to ease the human suffering and to reduce the risk of Israeli strikes on homes across the Strip despite the ceasefire agreement.
The Gaza ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, but Israeli forces have continued to violate it with strikes on homes and displacement tents, citing pursuit of Hamas members. That has killed 603 people and wounded more than 1,600, bringing the total since the start of the assault to more than 72,000 dead and 171,000 wounded, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry.
