UNRWA Gaza Camp Profiles

(Updated January 2010)

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Beach

• Over 82,000 registered refugees
• 29 schools, 13 running on double shifts
• One food distribution center
• One health center

The third largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight refugee camps – and one of the most crowded – Beach camp is also known locally as "Shati". The camp is on the Mediterranean coast in the Gaza City area, just north of the Gaza wharf. Like Jabalia camp, it has a very urban character. Beach camp initially accommodated 23,000 refugees who fled from Lydd, Jaffa, Be’er Sheva and other areas of Palestine. The camp is now home to more than 80,000 refugees, who all reside in an area of only 0.52 square kilometers.

Streets and alleys in the camp are often very narrow and the area is considered among the most densely populated in the world. The blockade on Gaza has exacerbated problems in the camp. The lack of building materials prevents repairs to housing and new building to cope with the large population. There is also insufficient access to drinking water and electricity. The blockade has also led to a large increase in unemployment.

Bureij

Bureij camp is a comparatively small refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip. The camp is near Maghazi and Nuseirat refugee camps. Bureij camp was built in the 1950s to house approximately 13,000 refugees who until then had lived in British army barracks and tents. The refugees who settled in Bureij had mostly come from towns east of Gaza, such as Falouja. Today, the refugee population of Bureij is more than 31,000.

The camp’s housing shortage has been made worse by the blockade of Gaza, which prevents people from importing construction materials. Water and electricity supplies are also inadequate. Unemployment is widespread and the camp suffers from a high poverty rate.

Deir El-Balah

Deir El-Balah camp is the smallest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, west of a town of the same name, in central Gaza. Deir al-Balah means "Monastery of the Dates", a reference to the abundant date palm groves in the area. Tents provided temporary shelter to the camp’s original 9,000 refugees, who had fled their homes as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Most of the refugees who settled in Deir el-Balah were from villages in central and southern Palestine. The tents were replaced by mud-brick shelters and, later, by cement block structures. There are now more than 20,000 refugees living in the camp.

Residents suffer from poverty and high unemployment, exacerbated by the blockade of Gaza. They also lack access to adequate drinking water and electricity, and are unable to build or expand their homes because of the ban on importing construction materials.

Jabalia

Jabalia is the largest of the Gaza Strip's eight refugee camps. It is located north of Gaza City, close to a village of the same name. After the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, 35,000 refugees settled in the camp, most having fled from villages in southern Palestine. Today, approximately 108,000 registered refugees live in the camp, which covers an area of only 1.4 square kilometers. The camp has a very urban character and overcrowding is a key concern for its residents.

The camp has been badly affected by the blockade of Gaza, which has led to extremely high unemployment. The ban on importing building materials has caused a housing shortage. Residents also lack access to adequate drinking water and electricity supply.

Khan Younis

Khan Younis refugee camp is located about two kilometers. from the Mediterranean coast, north of Rafah. It lies west of the town of Khan Younis, a major commercial center and stopping-off point on the ancient trade route to Egypt. After the 1948 war, 35,000 refugees took shelter in the camp, having fled their homes during the hostilities. Most were from the Be’er Sheva area. Today, Khan Younis camp is home to more than 68,000 refugees.

As in other camps in Gaza, the blockade has led to an increase in unemployment, and problems accessing sufficient drinking water and electricity. There are major problems with maintaining infrastructure and sufficient housing for the large population. No construction or rebuilding – either in terms of infrastructure or shelters – can take place as long as the ban on imports of construction materials remains in place.

Maghazi

Maghazi camp is located in the center of the Gaza Strip, south of Bureij camp. It was established in 1949 and is one of the smaller camps in Gaza, both in terms of size and population. Maghazi is characterized by narrow alleys and high population density, with more than 24,000 refugees housed in an area of no more than 0.6 square kilometers. Most of the refugees who took shelter in Maghazi as they fled the hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war originated from villages in central and southern Palestine.

No construction or repair work can take place as the blockade prevents Gazans from importing building materials. This has intensified problems housing the expanding population and maintaining the camp’s overstretched infrastructure. Like other camps in Gaza, Maghazi suffers from high unemployment and poverty.

Nuseirat

A busy and crowded camp, Nuseirat is currently home to more than 60,000 refugees. Set in the middle of the Gaza Strip, Nuseirat is in close proximity to the camps of Bureij and Maghazi. The 16,000 refugees who originally settled in the camp had fled from the southern districts of Palestine after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, including the coast and Be’er Sheva. The camp took its name from a local Bedouin tribe and at first the refugees had to live in a former British military prison in the area.

The blockade of Gaza has increased unemployment and caused shortages of adequate drinking water and electricity. The camp has extremely high population density, but people are unable to repair or build new homes because of the ban on importing building materials.

Rafah

Rafah camp is located in the south of Gaza, near and on the Egyptian border. The camp was established in 1949. At that time, it was one of the most densely populated of the eight refugee camps of the Gaza Strip. Over the year, thousands of refugees moved from the camp to a nearby housing project at Tel El-Sultan, making the camp almost indistinguishable from the adjacent city. Originally home to 41,000 refugees who had fled from the hostilities of the 1948 war, Rafah is now home to almost 99,000 refugees. High population density is a major problem, with people living in crowded shelters along extremely narrow streets.

The blockade of Gaza has led to increased unemployment, and residents lack access to adequate drinking water and electricity. It has also intensified problems associated with high population density and infrastructure maintenance. No construction or rebuilding of infrastructure or shelters can take place while the ban on importing construction materials remains in force.