ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
After more than a year of war across Gaza, little is certain except this - winter is arriving, and it will be like none Gaza has experienced before because according to the U.N., most people are in makeshift shelters and in areas that flood. NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, met families on the very edge of survival. And NPR's Aya Batrawy sent us this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND BLOWING)
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: The flimsy tents on the sand here, made out of wooden sticks and old flour bags, are no match for the Mediterranean Sea's lashing winds and tide.
(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)
BATRAWY: Some families in Gaza survived the grueling summer on the water's edge like this. But as Nidhal Abdel-Qitati learned this week, winter can't be wrestled with. He woke up to his children screaming. Waves had crashed into the tent they've been forced to live in for months, and his kids were being pulled by the tide.
NIDHAL ABDEL-QITATI: (Through interpreter) My kids thought the sea was swallowing them. They were screaming. I swear the little one - she's 3 - she was crying the whole night and couldn't sleep. The sea swept in and took with it everything we own. We lost our blankets, clothes, pots and pans, everything we have to live with.
BATRAWY: He'd fortified his tent with extra plastic tarping for winter, but it made no difference to the rain. Abdel-Qitati and thousands of families on the beach here have nowhere else to go. The U.N. says around 80% of Gaza is under Israeli military evacuation orders, leaving this stretch of the coast basically all that's left.
ABDEL-QITATI: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: He says, "where are our human rights? We have nothing to do with all this." Israeli airstrikes have decimated Gaza. Aid groups say over a million and a half people need kits for adequate tents and shelter for the winter. Jan Egeland heads the Norwegian Refugee Council. He was in Gaza this month.
JAN EGELAND: I've seen destruction everywhere. There are entire areas that look like Stalingrad after the second World War. It's - everything in - is in ruins.
BATRAWY: His agency leads the effort to bring in temporary shelters to Gaza. Israel's military says its been preparing to facilitate a humanitarian response for people in Gaza ahead of winter. But the Norwegian Refugee Council says it will take more than two years to deliver the kits needed to prepare tents because of how little aid Israel is allowing in daily. Israeli approvals and permissions are needed for basics like boots, raincoats, tools for tents, and solar lamps to enter Gaza. Israel says these restrictions are to prevent goods from falling into the hands of Hamas, the group that attacked Israel last year. Here's Egeland again.
EGELAND: Too little aid is coming in, and of that aid, a fraction is really distributed.
BATRAWY: People don't have blankets or warm clothes, even as nighttime temperatures this week dropped to below 50. Louise Wateridge is with UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza.
LOUISE WATERIDGE: We have been pushing all summer and preparing all summer for winter. There's one thing that's inevitable. It's winter.
BATRAWY: She says warehouses and trucks outside Gaza have what people need.
WATERIDGE: Do we have enough blankets and mattresses to give people this winter? Yes. Yes, we do. Are we able to give them to them? No. No, we're not. That it - that's as simple as it is. So will people be cold this winter? Yes. And that's completely down to political will.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
ABU YAZAN SHAHEEN: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: At this small corner store in central Gaza, a few winter pieces swing on hangers. They're all used, either stolen from people's bombed homes or sold by its owners. A woman asks for prices. A lightly worn, bright yellow puffer jacket costs the equivalent of $40. A worn out woman's trenchcoat is $35.
SHAHEEN: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: Abu Yazan Shaheen is the owner here. He says women come to the store not just to buy, but to sell their clothes. They need the money for diapers, baby formula and food. Families in Gaza are going hungry with bakeries closing one after the other because they lack flour and fuel.
SHAHEEN: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: He says, when people were forced to flee their homes over a year ago, they left with just the clothes on their back and the little they could carry. No one expected Israel's bombardment and the war to drag on this long. Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Dubai with Anas Baba in Gaza. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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