World and Arab Housing Day Highlights Destruction of Palestinian Homes

World and Arab Housing Day comes against a backdrop of widespread destruction of Palestinian housing, after three years in which homes have been targets of Israeli military operations.

Most homes in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed over that period. The damage to housing has been accompanied by extensive destruction of infrastructure, compounding the impact on residential areas.

In the West Bank, around half the homes in two refugee camps have also been destroyed. The devastation underscores that the loss of Palestinian housing extends beyond Gaza.

The scale of destruction places shelter and the infrastructure needed to sustain residential communities at the centre of the housing challenge. Rebuilding will mean addressing not only damaged homes but also the wider systems on which those communities depend.