For many families in Gaza, the struggle to find safe shelter is ongoing. Many have not only had to flee their own homes but have subsequently been displaced multiple times. The staff of our partners in Gaza are facing the same dangers and hardships as the rest of Gaza’s population. This is the story of what has happened Maria*, who works for our partner Caritas Jerusalem as a social worker:

Maria used to live on the Gaza coast, next to the beach. But soon into the war her neighbourhood was shelled, and her home destroyed. With the airstrikes still taking place, she and her elderly father, who needs to use a wheelchair, had no choice but to travel the streets, seeking shelter. Eventually they found space in a friend’s house.

But soon a warning came to evacuate that area. They were again forced to move on, this time to the Christian Orthodox Cultural Centre, where some 500 others were sheltering. On 31 October, this was also destroyed following an IDF warning to evacuate.

Again, their search for a new shelter was perilous, with live fire and airstrikes continuing around them as Maria and her father were on the move. With the help of Caritas Jerusalem, they settled at the Gaza YMCA. Just before Christmas, the YMCA building was badly damaged by heavy shelling.

In desperation, and with nowhere else to go, Maria and her father, along with many of the other internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the YMCA, were forced to move into the abandoned houses of other Gazan residents in the area.

The owners of the home are now aware and have given them permission to stay. But how long they will be able to remain before they are forced to flee again is unknown.

Until there is a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, the upheavals, fear and hardship faced by Maria and her father, and so many families like them, will continue.

* Name changed.