Cash aid brings choice and dignity in Gaza

By the sea in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, the ground does not absorb rain. When winter storms hit, water rises fast, pooling under tents and soaking everything inside. For Farah* and her family, this has happened three winters in a row.

Farah lives in a coastal displacement camp in Khan Younis with ten relatives, including her sister-in-law, Mona*, who is also her caregiver, and Mona’s four daughters. They have been displaced twice. Each time, they carried less with them.

Their home once stood in eastern Khan Younis, but when they returned briefly in March 2025, it was gone. “Everything was flattened,” Mona said. “You could not even tell where the house used to be.”

Enduring winter beneath plastic and wood

In Al-Mawasi, the family’s tent is made of plastic sheets stretched over wood. When it rains, water seeps in from above and below. Last winter, Mona and her daughters dug into the sand with their hands, trying to push water away. They filled buckets and emptied them outside. At one point, everything inside the tent was soaked. Farah and the girls slept in a small shelter used for birds—the only dry space they could find.

“If you had driven a car through here, it would have floated,” Mona said. Tarps on their own are not enough. They tried to reinforce the tent with wood, but strong winds quickly damaged it. “There is not much we can do to prepare. Even if we had ten tarps, without a proper structure, they would not protect us,” she said.

Living with disability in displacement

Farah has long had hearing problems, but the war made them worse. A doctor recently told the family she has a perforated eardrum and needs a hearing aid, along with dental care. When the doctor mentioned the hearing aid, the family did not ask about the price. “We already knew we could not afford it,” Mona said. “We did not even start that conversation.”

Her hearing loss makes daily life harder in the camp. Shared toilets and crowded spaces are difficult to navigate. She is more isolated and depends heavily on her family. Once, another displaced woman insulted her publicly. “It hurt me so much to hear her being spoken to that way,” Mona said. “I confronted the woman immediately and told her not to speak to her that way.”

Cash aid provides choice and dignity

Before the war, the family received limited support from the Ramallah Ministry of Social Development. That assistance has since stopped. None of Farah’s brothers have a steady source of income.

In 2025, Farah began receiving cash support through Mercy Corps as part of the Basic Needs Consortium program funded by the European Union. The program delivered three cash aid transfers, totaling approximately $1040.

The funds were used with great thought and care. Most of the first payment went toward dental care, while also saving a small amount in case she needed a follow-up visit. With the second transfer, the family bought her clothes and kebab. “She really wanted to taste kebab again,” Mona said. “It made her very happy.”

The third payment will be used for her medical care, like support for her hearing, and daily needs. For households caring for persons with disabilities, flexible cash assistance is particularly critical. It allows families to address individualized needs, including medical consultations, mobility-related costs, specialized care, and essential items that are often unaffordable under prolonged crisis conditions. This support is helping Farah’s family cover both food and essential disability-related expenses. “It gives her dignity,” Mona said. “It gives her some freedom to meet her own needs.”

The Basic Needs Consortium provides multipurpose cash assistance to vulnerable households across Gaza. To date, the Consortium has reached over 6,900 vulnerable households with cash support, prioritizing families facing displacement, disability, and severe economic hardship.

Ongoing support for uncertain times

The cash does not rebuild what was lost. But it allows choices, medical visits, clothing, food that brings joy, and reduces some of the daily pressure of survival. For Farah and her family, the support means something practical and immediate: treatment that can continue, essential needs that can be covered, and decisions they can make for themselves.

Through the Basic Needs Consortium, households with specialized needs can also be referred to appropriate services when available, ensuring that cases requiring further medical, protection, or psychosocial support are not left without follow-up.

“With this support, we can at least reduce her pain and help her,” Mona said. Through continued support of the European Union, the Basic Needs Consortium will continue providing inclusive, flexible assistance that helps families facing displacement and disability navigate crisis with dignity.

*Names have been changed