My Old School is Now a Scorching Shelter for Suffering Families in Gaza
saleemOnce a place of learning, now a place of survival
In southern Gaza, a once-bustling high school filled with the laughter of students is now eerily silent—its classrooms no longer host lessons but families who have lost everything. This former school has become a Gaza shelter for hundreds of displaced Palestinians fleeing airstrikes, starvation, and unbearable summer heat. One of our aid workers from Children’s Aid returned to this school—his old school—not as a student, but as a lifeline for those trapped in unimaginable hardship.
“I used to memorize poetry in this classroom. Today, a woman sits here cradling her malnourished baby, unsure if they will make it through the week,” he tells us.
Gaza’s Warming Summer: Life in Shelters Turns Harsh
As May 2025 begins, rising temperatures are already making life difficult in overcrowded Gaza shelters. While it’s not peak summer yet, the lack of electricity, clean water, and ventilation makes even 30°C feel unbearable.
Families are packed into school buildings with no privacy. Children develop heat rashes, elders struggle to breathe, and bathing is rare. One mother told us, “We’re not living—just surviving day by day.”
Conditions are worsening fast. With your help, Children’s Aid continues to support displaced families with essentials and hygiene aid.
Trash, sewage, and hunger: Daily battles in Gaza shelters
Gaza shelters, once schools or community centers, were never built to house hundreds of people. Overflowing toilets and stagnant greywater have led to a rise in waterborne diseases. Garbage lines the alleys around shelters because fuel shortages have paralyzed municipal waste collection.
Meanwhile, food insecurity in Gaza has reached alarming levels. The once-fertile farmlands have been flattened. Basic ingredients like vegetables, oil, or flour are luxuries. During one of our Children’s Aid relief distributions at a shelter in Khan Younis, an elderly man cried at the sight of fresh cucumbers—something he hadn’t tasted in months.
“This was my school; now it’s a city of pain.”
Our field worker paused at the basketball court—the same one where he once shot hoops as a teenager. Now, it’s filled with tents made of plastic sheets and scrap fabric. Classrooms, once full of books and blackboards, now house five to six families each, separated by thin bedsheets.
“In the hallway where we lined up for morning assembly, mothers now rock crying babies to sleep,” he says.
There are no fans, no beds, no quiet. The hum of flies, the heat, the coughing, the prayers—it never stops. The emotional trauma is everywhere, especially for children who’ve seen war instead of education and rubble instead of playgrounds.
Why Gaza’s families need us now
At Children’s Aid, we believe that every child deserves safety, dignity, and a future. But in Gaza, children are being denied the most basic of human rights—clean water, food, shelter, education, and peace.
With more than 1.9 million people internally displaced and hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in overcrowded Gaza shelters, the need is urgent and growing. Many of these families have been displaced multiple times, forced to abandon homes, belongings, and dreams with each new round of violence.
How you can help
Despite extreme risks, Children’s Aid teams are on the ground, providing
- Fresh food parcels
- Hygiene kits and clean water
- Medical aid for mothers and children
- Mental health support for trauma-stricken youth
But we cannot do it alone.
Your donation can help deliver hope, even in the darkest moments. Let’s stand together in humanity. Donate now to support Gaza shelters and displaced families.
We are no less human
As our fieldworker left his old school—now a sanctuary of suffering—he looked back, his eyes full of both pain and purpose: We are Palestinians. We are no less human. And until the world sees that, we will continue to cry out—not just for help, but for justice.”
