Winter Storm Brings More Misery to Gaza
Last week's fierce storms proved extra costly for the many families in Gaza living in makeshift or war-damaged homes, Abeer Ayoub reports from Gaza.
Om Sobhi Awaja gathers her seven children around a small fire as the cold winter air blows into her home that has no flooring, windows or doors. The smoke from the fire stings the children’s eyes, but there’s no other way to keep them warm.
“Since January 2009, I haven’t slept a night in peace,” said Om Sobhi while changing her daughter’s sweater, wet from the weather.
Om Sobhi’s house, in the northern neighborhood of Bet-Lahya near the Israeli border, was devastated during the 22-day Israeli offensive in 2008-2009 when an Israeli tank crushed it and killed her nine-year-old son. The family moved between tents, mud houses and makeshift shelters until the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) enlisted them in a rebuilding program.
Her husband, Abu Sobhi, demolished the temporary mud house and started building on the same space, settling his family in a nearby shack with a plastic roof after the UNRWA granted them two payments. But the reconstruction is taking time.
