Palestinians in Gaza are turning to mud bricks, salvaged wood, and sheets of fabric and plastic to rebuild homes and shops shattered by Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave. Across neighbourhoods flattened by months of bombardment, families stack handmade bricks directly atop broken concrete, improvising fragile walls over cratered floors. The rudimentary structures offer little protection from heat, rain, or cold, but residents say they are the only alternative to sleeping in overcrowded tents or in the open air. Gaza authorities say more than 90 percent of the Strip has been destroyed since October 2023, leaving much of the Gaza Strip without adequate housing or basic infrastructure.
Israel has killed at least 73,658 Palestinians, including more than 21,500 children, according to Palestinian health authorities and Gaza’s Government Media Office. The office estimates that Israel has dropped about 223,000 tonnes of explosives on the territory, generating about 68 million tonnes of rubble. The United Nations says only about 310,000 tonnes – less than 0.5 percent – have so far been cleared, a pace that would take more than a century to remove the debris that now underpins Gaza’s fragile, handmade homes.
