New Year Dawns in Gaza Amid Rubble, Loss and Fragile Hope

A young Palestinian girl wearing a Santa Claus outfit, stands in front of tents belonging to displaced families in northern Gaza City.

As 2026 begins, residents of the Gaza Strip are confronting life in displacement camps and amid the ruins of destroyed neighbourhoods, facing deep uncertainty after months of war and devastation.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain uprooted, many living in makeshift tents pitched on bare ground or squeezed into damaged buildings without reliable access to water, electricity, healthcare or sanitation.

Winter rains have compounded the hardship, flooding shelters and turning camp pathways into thick mud.

Yet, amid the destruction, displaced families say the arrival of a new year has stirred fragile hopes for stability, safety and a chance to rebuild lives shattered by conflict.

Standing in front of her tent, Umm Rabee’ Al-Malash appealed for greater international engagement.

“The Palestinian people must be supported, as they have endured immense suffering,” she said. “Help us rebuild the Gaza Strip, bring about peace, and allow us to have a state where we can live in peace and security.”

For parents, the toll on children is among the deepest scars of the war. Schools across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, while thousands of young people have missed months of education.

Wafaa Al-Khawaja voiced her fears for the next generation. “I wish that, just as the rest of the world lives, we could live the same way,” she said.

“Our children today have no education or anything else,” she added, describing days consumed by the struggle to find food, water and warmth.

In northern Gaza, displacement has cut families off from homes and livelihoods built over decades.

Kamal Abu Hsheish, originally from the Jabalia camp, said his only wish is to return to the life he knew before the war. For now, daily life inside the camps continues to impose severe humanitarian conditions on thousands of families.

Aid agencies warn that relief efforts face mounting challenges, including damaged infrastructure, restricted access and the sheer scale of need. Reconstruction, they say, will require sustained international commitment once conditions allow and if the Gaza peace deal advances to its next stage.

As Gaza’s displaced population marks the start of another year with no return to their former lives in sight, hopes remain tied to an end to violence and meaningful political progress on the 20-point plan that established the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in early October.

Until then, families wait—enduring loss and uncertainty while clinging to the belief that the coming months may finally bring safety, dignity and the possibility of going home to rebuild.