Displaced people in Gaza are securing their tents with shells despite the great dangers

The scarcity of resources and the bitterness of repeated displacement due to Israel’s war of annihilation against the Gaza Strip have driven Palestinian families to utilize whatever means are available to cope with their harsh living conditions inside tents that offer no protection from the winter cold or the summer heat.

In one of the self-established camps west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip—an area repeatedly subjected to devastating military incursions by the occupation army’s tanks, supported by intensive airstrikes—some displaced families resorted to using war remnants to secure their tents. Some residents tied their tent ropes to heavy shells they found during their displacement, fearing the tents would be blown away by the recurring weather fluctuations and severe storms that periodically batter the Strip. These shells were also placed on some of the tarpaulins surrounding the tents to prevent them from being torn by the wind.

War remnants and unexploded Israeli missiles and shells are scattered throughout many areas of the Gaza Strip. During a previous tour by Arabi21 in the city of Rafah before it was completely destroyed by the occupation forces and the citizens were forced to flee, some unexploded Israeli missiles were seen, causing deep holes in the ground in areas that were bombed near people’s residential areas.