Sustaining Dignity and Choice

For over 30 months, Gaza has faced a protracted humanitarian crisis marked by ongoing hostilities, repeated displacement, and severe constraints on humanitarian access. Despite periods of de-escalation, civilians continue to face daily risks, including airstrikes, shootings, and damage to already fragile shelters caused by continued hostilities and harsh weather conditions. The majority of the population remains displaced, living in overcrowded sites and makeshift shelters with limited services and few durable shelter options.

Recent months have further underscored the volatility of conditions. Severe weather events, including storms and strong winds, have damaged temporary shelters and disrupted life in displacement sites, while fluctuations in markets and restricted entry of goods continue to affect household access to basic needs.

It is within this environment, shaped by instability, constrained access, and persistent needs, that humanitarian actors continue to respond.

Since April 2025, the EU-funded Basic Needs Consortium (BNC), comprised of Mercy Corps, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and five Palestinian NGOs (PARC1, FAFD2, PHC3, POD4, LHA5), has worked to sustain lifesaving assistance across Gaza. Over the past year, the Consortium has focused on what families consistently identify as most critical: predictable cash support, safer shelter conditions, coordinated site-level services, and protection embedded in community realities.

Cash Assistance That Restores Choice and Stability

Across Gaza, households continue to navigate constrained access to goods, fluctuating prices, and limited income opportunities. While markets remain partially functional, affordability and access are inconsistent, leaving many families reliant on humanitarian support to meet their most basic needs.

In this context, multi-purpose cash assistance has proven to be one of the most effective ways to support families. By providing direct financial support, the Basic Needs Consortium enables households to prioritise what matters most to them – whether food, medicine, transportation, or essential household items – based on their own circumstances.

Since April 2025, with support from the European Union, the Basic Needs Consortium has reached a combined total of 6,936 households across Gaza with multi-purpose cash assistance, with Catholic Relief Services and Mercy Corps leading the delivery of this component. Households received three rounds of support, aligned with the program design to provide a degree of predictability in an otherwise uncertain environment. Transfer values were adjusted in line with market conditions and Gaza-wide technical guidance to ensure assistance remained meaningful and responsive to rising costs.

Cash assistance is delivered through a combination of direct e-wallet transfers and vendor-based redemption systems, allowing support to continue even amid disruptions to financial infrastructure. This flexibility has enabled assistance to reach families despite banking constraints, liquidity shortages, and movement restrictions.

While no single intervention can address the scale of need, cash assistance has had a clear and immediate impact: it restores a measure of agency, reduces negative coping strategies, and allows families to make decisions that protect their well-being and dignity.

Improving Shelter Conditions in a Constrained Environment

Across Gaza, large portions of housing infrastructure remain damaged or destroyed, leaving families to rely on temporary shelter solutions that were never intended for prolonged use. Many continue to live in tents or makeshift structures, exposed to harsh weather conditions and environmental risks.

As winter comes to a close, its impact remains evident. Storms, flooding, and cold temperatures have damaged shelters across displacement sites, highlighting the importance of strengthening living conditions even within severe constraints.

In response, the EU-funded Basic Needs Consortium has focused on practical, adaptable shelter solutions that improve safety and dignity within the current operating environment.

Through CRS, the Consortium has supported the provision of tents, bedding, and essential shelter materials to households facing the most acute needs. Alongside this, DRC and local partners have implemented site-level improvements such as drainage works, reinforcement of structures, and basic infrastructure adjustments that reduce risks associated with flooding and overcrowding.

A key innovation has been the piloting of Emergency Shelter Kits (ESKs), locally procured and designed to offer a more stable and protective alternative to standard tents. These kits provide improved structural integrity and living space, contributing to safer and more dignified shelter conditions for vulnerable families.

The video below shows how these shelters are constructed and what they offer to families living in displacement sites:

Lessons from this pilot have been shared with coordination platforms to inform broader shelter approaches under ongoing constraints.

For families who have spent months exposed to the elements, even incremental improvements in shelter conditions can have a significant impact on daily life, offering greater protection, privacy, and stability.

Protection Embedded in Everyday Assistance

In Gaza, protection risks are deeply intertwined with daily life. Overcrowded living conditions, repeated displacement, and exposure to hazards all contribute to heightened vulnerabilities, particularly for children, women, older people, and persons with disabilities.

Recognising this, the Basic Needs Consortium has integrated protection across all aspects of its response, ensuring that assistance not only meets basic needs but also supports safety, inclusion, and well-being.

Led by DRC, protection activities have included explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), reaching 7,318 people in displacement sites and supporting communities to identify and avoid life-threatening hazards, alongside ongoing protection monitoring to track risks and inform referrals.

At the community level, the Consortium has strengthened local capacities through training and engagement with site committees and frontline responders. This includes support on protection mainstreaming, conflict sensitivity, and inclusive approaches, enabling communities themselves to play a role in identifying risks and supporting vulnerable individuals.

The establishment of Protection Focal Points, with balanced female and male representation, has further strengthened early identification and referral pathways, improving access to support services for those in need.

By embedding protection into shelter, cash, and site management activities, the Consortium ensures that assistance contributes not only to survival, but also to dignity and safety.

Coordinated Action for Greater Impact

In a highly constrained and rapidly changing environment, coordination is critical to ensuring assistance reaches those most in need, effectively and on time.

Since the start of the response, the Basic Needs Consortium has played a key role in bringing partners together across sectors. Through joint planning, shared analysis, and regular information exchange, the Consortium contributes to a more coherent and efficient humanitarian response.

Mercy Corps and CRS have supported alignment in cash assistance through market monitoring and engagement with relevant working groups, while DRC has contributed to displacement tracking and site-level data through coordination platforms. Together with Palestinian partners, the Consortium has also supported scenario planning and data sharing to inform timely and evidence-based decision-making, directly strengthening how support is delivered on the ground. This includes improving shelter solutions to better protect families from the elements and enabling partners at site level to identify urgent needs and respond quickly, including in hard-to-reach areas.

This approach avoids duplication, addresses gaps, and maximises impact for affected communities.

Continuing the Response

After nearly a year of sustained presence and support across Gaza, the EU-funded Basic Needs Consortium continues to respond in a humanitarian context that remains complex and fluid. Needs continue to evolve, while constraints on access and delivery persist.

With the support of the European Union, the Basic Needs Consortium remains committed to continuing its response, building on what has been achieved to date. By working closely with local partners, adapting to changing conditions, and maintaining a focus on dignity, safety, and choice, the Consortium continues to deliver assistance that responds to what families need most.

Across Gaza, every intervention, whether a cash transfer, an improved shelter, or a strengthened community mechanism, helps families navigate daily challenges with greater stability and resilience.

As conditions remain uncertain, sustained support will be essential to ensure that this work can continue, reaching vulnerable households and supporting communities across the Gaza Strip.