Displaced families in Gaza Strip living in desperate conditions

Thousands of Palestinian families internally displaced in the Gaza Strip continue to live in fraught conditions, with more than 75,000 in need of homes, the United Nations has found.

The Gaza Strip has been devastated by three Israeli military invasions since 2006, the last being Israel's full-scale military operation in 2014 during which 2,000 were killed, including more than 500 children.

Nearly a fifth of the 1.8 million residents living in the Strip were displaced, with 20,000 homes severely damaged.

"It is clear that most families continue to live in desperate conditions,” said Robert Piper, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities for the occupied Palestinian territories.

"International support to end this situation is urgently needed."

Since the 2014 war, Gaza's economy has had little chance to recover, especially as reconstruction efforts have been hampered, and the scale of destruction is so vast.

Many families are living in shelters that are lacking in security, dignity or privacy, with thousands surviving in tents, makeshift shelters, destroyed houses, or the open air.

Adding to the dire situation, more than 80 percent of families had borrowed money to get by in the past year, while over 85 percent had purchased most of their food on credit and more than 40 percent have decreased their consumption of food.

More than 80 percent of families borrowed money to get by in the past year, more than 85 percent purchased most of their food on credit and more than 40 percent have decreased their consumption of food

In addition, some 62.5 percent of internally displaced households reported that they are renting living space, including from extended family members, and nearly 50 percent fear being evicted from their accommodation.

"Funding is needed more than ever," Piper said. "We face a funding gap to reconstruct some 6,600 houses. Without this support, thousands of Palestinians will see no end to their displacement."

The UN coordinator also added that this support must go hand-in-hand with significant changes at the policy level, including a lifting of the blockade and progress towards Palestinian reconciliation.

In February 2015, Oxfam said that rebuilding Gaza could take a century to complete unless the Israeli blockade were lifted, highlighting that many families were living in homes without roofs, walls, windows or running water, with some receiving only six hours of electricity a day.

Furthermore, a report by the United Nations late last year warned that Gaza could be uninhabitable by 2020 if current political and economic trends caused by Israeli policies continue.

"Without such action, coping capacities of exhausted and vulnerable households risk being depleted altogether," Piper concluded.