'Death is better': Palestinians struggle to sleep in makeshift shelters on rubble of homes

A Palestinian who returned to her wrecked home in Gaza City told Reuters that she and her children are struggling to sleep in a makeshift tent she erected on the ruins of their house.

"We are staying here, but we are afraid of rats and everything around us. There are dogs. There is no place to settle. We have children. It is difficult," Manal al-Harsh told Reuters.

"We are practically sleeping here, but we don't sleep. We are afraid someone might come upon us. We are sleeping and scared," she said.

"I want to retrieve some clothes for the children to wear. We came with nothing. Life here is expensive, and there is no money to buy anything."

Fifteen months of relentless Israeli bombardment have laid the whole city to waste.

Like many others, Harsh and her children walked over 2okm from the south to find their home reduced to rubble. She is trying to salvage what remains, picking bits of clothing from the wreckage.

"It's all torn. Nothing is good. As much as we do, as much as we retrieve, it is all stones," she said.

"Death is better," Harsh said, her voice heavy with despair.