For weeks, Nafez al-Ghorani has moved from one lead to another, spending long, punishing days searching for an apartment to rent, clinging to the hope of finding a roof for his family until they can return to their own home in Gaza.
A resident of Sheikh Radwan in the city’s north, al-Ghorani is now displaced in Khan Younis in the south, where his search has collided with a stark reality, as widespread destruction has left most homes and residential buildings uninhabitable.
Finding an apartment was not the only challenge facing al-Ghorani and hundreds of others each day. More difficult still are the complex conditions imposed by landlords when someone is fortunate enough to find a vacant unit.
Al-Ghorani, who currently lives in a tent in Khan Younis, told Asharq Al-Awsat that whenever he finds an apartment suitable for rent, the owner asks for a copy of his identity card to conduct background checks, either in his original neighborhood before his home was destroyed or through other parties, before approving the lease.
He said his requests were rejected several times for reasons he could not understand.
In one instance, after agreeing on rent with a landlord, al-Ghorani was surprised by a condition barring him from receiving any male visitors in the apartment, even his brothers, over fears that one of them might belong to a Palestinian faction, which could expose the building to an Israeli strike.
Al-Ghorani said he rejected the condition, and the landlord, in turn, refused to rent the apartment.
Al-Ghorani said that finding an apartment for rent, even at exorbitant prices, has become nearly impossible amid the complications imposed by homeowners who fear for their properties and their own safety.
While he considers such concerns a legitimate right, he pointed to what he described as excessive and sometimes unjustified conditions, including those that prevented him from renting despite the fact that neither he nor any of his five children belongs to any faction.
Forced choices
With only a small number of homes and apartments left standing in Gaza after widespread destruction across large parts of the enclave, residents fear being targeted by Israeli strikes as ceasefire violations continue following the truce that took effect on Oct. 10.
In a report published early this year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 92 percent of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.
The office said 436,000 housing units were affected by the war, with 160,000 completely destroyed and 276,000 partially damaged, some severely.
The report stated that more than 1.8 million people are in urgent need of emergency shelter and basic household essentials.
Fadl al-Shanti, who owns a six-story residential building in western Gaza City, said he cannot rent to anyone without first inquiring about them, calling it a fundamental right to protect his building and the lives of his family members who live in one of its apartments.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said Israel does not wait for permission when it decides to strike a suspected militant and has committed dozens of massacres against entire families and buildings to kill a single person.
“The lives of my family and those living in the building are a trust I carry as part of my responsibilities,” he said.
He added that as a building owner, he is not against his own people, whether they belong to a Palestinian faction or not, but said there are compelling circumstances and harsh conditions that cannot be ignored.
“I cannot sacrifice the lives of several families for one person who can find an alternative place,” he said.
Al-Shanti acknowledged that some landlords have sharply raised rents, yet demand among those forced to seek housing remains high. He said he personally raised the rent from prewar levels to about $800 from $500 previously, while most landlords now demand between $1,000 and $1,500 for apartments ranging from 130 to 170 square meters.
Before the war, rents ranged from $200 to $500, while furnished apartments rented for up to $700 per month.
A citizen without a homeland
Conditions imposed by landlords do not stop there. Some landlords refuse to rent to families with more than six members or impose conditions related to water, such as requiring tenants to share the landlord’s limited water allocation due to severe shortages.
It has also been noted that most apartment owners refuse to rent to people working in certain professions, such as journalists, medical staff and university professors, due to their repeated targeting by Israel during the war.
Haitham Omar, who was also searching for an apartment, said he was shocked by the excessive price hikes and the onerous conditions, in addition to payments demanded by brokers and intermediaries who market the apartments.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he stated that a landlord demanded $1,300 per month for a two-room apartment with a kitchen and living room.
“I am a simple citizen working in a private sector company, and all I earn monthly is $550,” he said.
Even damaged units have not escaped high rents. Omar said the owner of a damaged apartment demanded about $600 a month, even though parts of it were covered with tarpaulins, describing the situation as unjust.
With bitterness in his voice, he added, “They were right to say that a home is a homeland, and today we are without a homeland.”
Even women are barred from visiting
Iman al-Attar, a young woman who works as an online intermediary between landlords and tenants, noted that some conditions are viewed by many as normal, adding that apartment owners fear that tenants may host displaced relatives in the same unit, which can affect building services.
She recounted an incident in which a landlord imposed a condition banning the tenant from receiving any guests, men or women, claiming that Israel had struck women because their husbands were faction members. She said the tenant rejected the condition outright.
As for banning male visitors, al-Attar said it has become a frequent practice and is now often included as a clause in rental contracts.
She did not deny that most apartment owners are exploiting the current situation, with no clear vision for reconstruction or a definitive end to the war, to impose their conditions and raise rents to excessive levels.
