Gaza without building materials.. How do residents make a shelter from rubble?

The Israeli army is still deployed in more than 50% of the Gaza Strip beyond the so-called “yellow line”, where facilities, humanitarian assets, infrastructure and agricultural land are inaccessible.

Our correspondent in Gaza visited Muhammad Al-Jazba, and conveyed a vivid picture of the challenges he faces in his quest to build a shelter for his family.

The UN notes that ongoing restrictions on the entry of essential supplies, coupled with widespread damage to housing and infrastructure, continue to hamper recovery efforts across Gaza; While shelter, building supplies, fuel and protection needs remain among the most urgent.

Primitive means of construction

With the shrinking space available in Gaza, thousands of families have been forced to return to live on the outskirts of their destroyed neighborhoods near the so-called “yellow line,” despite what residents describe as a constant risk of injury or death as a result of sporadic gunfire.

Muhammad Al-Jazba says: “We are less than a kilometer away from what is known as the ‘Yellow Line’, and my house was destroyed during the war. For the past two years, we have lived in tents that have become worn out and no longer provide us with any protection from anything.”

He added that his mother’s bullet wound while she was sitting inside her tent was the motivation behind his decision to build a more durable shelter, even if he had to use very primitive means. He added: “Two weeks ago, my mother was injured, so I decided to take advantage of everything I could salvage from the remains of our destroyed house. The entire area around us has turned into rubble… and now I am trying to put stone upon stone.”

Al-Jadhara uses leftover metal sheets he saved from a previous poultry farm, mixing them with clay, herbs and hair he collected from barbershops, to make rudimentary building materials in an attempt to construct several small rooms and a modest kitchen.

The lack of building materials exacerbates the problem

Muhammad Al-Jazba explains to us his suffering with the lack of building materials by saying: “We do not have cement or gypsum, as these materials have not entered the Gaza Strip for more than two and a half years. We are forced to mix clay with hair and herbs, in addition to the stones that we extract from the rubble, in order to be able to build.”

He added: “Even if a stray bullet came, these stones might provide us with a small amount of protection. They are still better than cloth, and they also give us a bit of privacy.”

Al-Jazba says that he returns every morning to the site of his destroyed house “To take a dose of sadness” – as he put it – before he began collecting whatever stones, marble remains, and metal pieces that could be recovered, in an attempt to rebuild enough to provide a more bearable life.

Yellow line

What is known as the “yellow line” in Gaza represents a dividing line between the areas to which residents returned following the announcement of a ceasefire in October 2025, and other areas that remained under Israeli control in parts of Rafah, eastern and northern Gaza.

According to the latest United Nations reports, the areas beyond the yellow line constitute more than half of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip, which prevents thousands of displaced families from returning to their homes – or what remains of them – despite the passage of nearly six months since the ceasefire was announced.