No privacy, constant struggles for women in Gaza’s crowded tent camps

With much of Gaza levelled by Israel, Palestinian women try to preserve their modesty and dignity in displacement camps.

For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy.

Women displaced from their homes by Israel’s ongoing bombardment struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents with extended family members, including men, and with strangers only steps away in neighbouring tents.

Alaa Hamami has dealt with the modesty issue by constantly wearing her prayer shawl, a cloth that covers her head and upper body.

“Our whole lives have become prayer clothes, even to the market we wear it,” said the young mother of three. “Dignity is gone.”

Normally, she would wear the shawl only when performing her daily Muslim prayers. But with so many men around, she keeps it on all the time, even when sleeping – just in case an Israeli attack hits nearby in the night and she has to flee quickly, she said.