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Gaza winter: families turn WFP flour sacks into flood barriers as 1.9 million still need shelter help

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Update: TrendDesh reported UN preparations for a Gaza winter on 15 Oct. This report adds new IOM figures and accounts from families.

The Gaza winter is arriving again for families still living in tents and damaged buildings, and some are filling empty World Food Programme flour sacks with sand to keep rainwater out, UN News reported on 17 October 2026. Around two million people in Gaza still need shelter assistance, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Rain has already started, and the UN says an intensifying El Nino threatens more in the coming months.

Gaza winter: Displaced people in Gaza fill flour sacks with sand around their tents to keep rainwater out
Displaced people in Gaza fill flour sacks with sand around their tents to keep rainwater out Photo: UN News (editorial use with credit).

Flour sacks and metal rods against the Gaza winter

Ahmed Al-Omari told UN News that the sacks once held food that people risked their lives to collect. “Now, they have become sacks that we fill with sand to act as barriers against rainwater,” he said. “We flood every year.” In Khan Younis, Mohammed Barhoum, displaced from Rafah, is using metal rods salvaged from rubble to strengthen his family’s tent, risky work amid unstable debris and explosive remnants of war. “This year, we decided to reinforce our tents using metal rods. It is a new experiment,” he said. Agencies are racing to bring in as much shelter material as possible before the worst of the winter, IOM’s Karl Baker said from Amman, Jordan, but the rains have already begun.

Key Facts

  • Need shelter help: 1.8-1.9 million people (IOM)
  • Tent lifespan: about 6 months
  • Buildings at risk of collapse: 4,000+
  • Accessible area: about 30% of Gaza
  • Dual-use limits on materials: since 2008

What IOM says about tents, funding and supply routes

Karl Baker, IOM’s regional crisis coordinator for Gaza, said the volume of goods entering the Strip will not meet the population’s needs. Funding arrived late in the year and is not at the scale needed for what IOM estimates is 1.8 to 1.9 million people needing some form of shelter help. Tents in Gaza usually last only about six months, and are often destroyed or left behind when families flee. IOM buys from suppliers in countries including China, India and Pakistan, and routes goods through Jordan, Egypt and Israel, so wider regional conflict and disrupted shipping delay deliveries. Funding shortages that began in January hampered preparations, he said.

Buildings at risk and dual-use restrictions

More than 4,000 buildings are reportedly at risk of collapse, UN News said, and Ramiz Alakbarov, the acting UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council the UN was helping move people out of unsafe structures. Only about 30 per cent of Gaza is now accessible to most people, Baker said. Most durable shelter materials, such as roofing sheets and cement, fall under Israeli dual-use restrictions that date back to 2008. Baker said IOM negotiates with Israeli authorities several times a day to get such items in. “From our perspective, we must continue to advocate for more durable items to get in,” he said.

Why It Matters: Without durable shelter, flooding and cold can turn the winter into a health emergency for displaced families, especially children and older people.

Also on TrendDesh: Gaza winter: UN steps up preparations as attacks continue and aid stays restricted · Gaza children: UNICEF says more than 340 killed since the ceasefire was announced a year ago

Source: UN News, 17 Oct 2026 · IOM

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