Every day, displaced Palestinians return to the ruins of their homes, searching for twisted iron rods to prop up makeshift tents or sell to survive in a territory still reeling from war.
Winter’s chill and heavy rains have turned these fragile shelters into flood-prone traps, leaving residents trapped between exposure, ruin and the relentless struggle to live.
Once the backbone of family homes, iron rods have become a lifeline.
Men, teenagers, and even the elderly hammer and chisel rods free from thick concrete with shovels, pickaxes, and hammers.
“I don’t have money to buy wood. I had to extract this iron from the house,” said Wael al-Jabra, 53, a father of six, hammering together a tent frame. “This house sheltered us. Now we only have God and these walls.”
