UN report: 80 percent of Gaza living in dire conditions Nearly 1.7 million displaced Palestinians - about 80 percent of Gaza’s population - are living with acute shortages of water, shelter and basic services, according to an assessment of displacement sites from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A spokesperson for the UN chief added that at least 59,000 shelters house more than eight people each, and around 38,500 people are sleeping in the open, while an estimated 600,000 people lack sufficient access to drinking water. Children watch as smoke billows in the background near the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on 19 June 2026 (Eyad Baba/AFP)