The UN warns that overcrowding has become a major concern in its emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza, with some far exceeding their capacity. Many of these emergency shelters are schools and in some there are dozens of people living in a single classroom. Other families are living in tents or makeshift shelters in compounds or on waste ground in open spaces. Areas of new tents that have sprung up between the start of December and middle of January close to the Egyptian border covered roughly 3.5 sq km, equivalent to nearly 500 Premier League football pitches.
