Winter rains have compounded the difficulties, flooding shelters and turning camp roads into thick mud.
Fragile hope
Yet amid the destruction, displaced families say the arrival of a new year has raised fragile hopes for stability, security and a chance to rebuild lives disrupted by conflict.
Standing in front of her tent, Umm Rabee’ Al-Malash called for greater international engagement.
“We must support the Palestinian people, as they have endured immense suffering,” he told our correspondent. “Help us rebuild the Gaza Strip, achieve peace and allow us to have a State where we can live in peace and security.”
staying behind
For parents, the cost of children is one of the deepest scars of war. Schools across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, while thousands of young people have missed months of learning.
Wafaa Al-Khawaja expressed her fears for the next generation. “I wish, just as the rest of the world lives, we could live the same way.
“Our children today have no education or anything else,” he said, describing the days consumed by the struggle to find food, water and warmth.
In northern Gaza, displacement has isolated families from their homes and livelihoods built over decades.
Turn back the clock
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, the daily reality inside the camps continues to impose severe humanitarian conditions on thousands of families.
Aid agencies warn that relief efforts face growing challenges, including damaged infrastructure, restricted access and the scale of needs.
Our children today have no education or anything else.
Reconstruction, they say, will require sustained international commitment once conditions allow, if the Gaza peace deal can advance to the next stage.
As Gaza’s displaced population ushers in another year – with no return to their old lives in sight – hopes remain tied to an end to violence and significant 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 will finally bring safety, dignity and the chance to return home to rebuild.