Housing insecurity, displacement, and the right to adequate housing in the Gaza Strip: a mixed-methods study amid protracted conflict

Background: Housing insecurity is a critical humanitarian concern in conflict-affected settings, where home destruction, repeated displacement, overcrowding, and disrupted services affect health, dignity, and recovery. In the Gaza Strip, the war that began in October 2023 has intensified housing and shelter insecurity among displaced and war-affected households. This study examined the extent, patterns, correlates, and perceived consequences of housing insecurity. Methods A convergent mixed-methods design combined a household survey with semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were collected from 420 households across the five governorates of the Gaza Strip within the study period (2 April−4 August 2026). Qualitative data were obtained from 34 displaced household members and 10 key informants. Differences in severe housing insecurity, measured with a study-specific six-component index, were expressed as crude prevalence ratios, while qualitative data were thematically analyzed and integrated with the quantitative findings. Results Of the sampled households, 88.6% had been displaced at least once, and 33.6% of displaced households reported four or more displacement episodes. Complete home destruction was reported by 42.9% of households and severe damage by 28.3%. Current shelter conditions were frequently inadequate: 78.1% reported overcrowding, 72.6% lacked sufficient water for hygiene, 68.8% lacked privacy, and 62.6% felt unsafe. Using a six-component study-specific index, 283 of 420 households (67.4%) met the criterion for severe housing insecurity. The prevalence was higher among female-headed households (78.1% vs. 63.4%; crude prevalence ratio [PR] 1.23, 95% CI 1.08–1.40). It was also higher among households including a person with a disability or chronic illness (80.2% vs. 62.2%; PR 1.29, 1.14–1.46) and among those living in tents or informal sites (82.1% vs. 62.4%; PR 1.31, 1.16–1.49). Conclusion In this sample, housing insecurity in the Gaza Strip was multidimensional, extending beyond physical shelter loss to include repeated displacement, inadequate services, protection risks, economic hardship, documentation loss, and psychosocial distress. The findings also point to two exploratory concepts, housing recovery uncertainty and documentary housing insecurity, as potentially important dimensions of housing insecurity in protracted conflict. Responses should integrate shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), health, protection, cash, livelihoods, documentation support, and longer-term rights-based housing recovery.