Reading spatial inequality in Gaza through UNRWA reports: Displacement and urban fragmentation

The escalation of conflict in Gaza in October 2023 has intensified a humanitarian crisis marked by mass displacement and the disruption of essential services, producing new forms of spatial inequality and heightened human vulnerability. To understand and analyze this crisis, this study draws on UNRWA situation reports from October 2023 to December 2025. It uses these reports as a lens to examine spatial conditions and how space is organized and transformed during the crisis. In this context, the study develops a spatial reading by identifying and interpreting how space is articulated within these reports. This includes the development of analytical visual representations derived from the data, translating textual and numerical information into spatial patterns across time and regions, and enabling a clearer understanding of displacement dynamics and spatial inequality. In doing so, it not only treats these reports as data but also critically examines how such textual, numerical, and visual outputs construct, represent, or fail to capture spatial inequalities. Through the analysis of these reports, the study identifies five temporal phases. Within each phase, a qualitative approach is adopted to analyze patterns of population movement, shelter overcrowding, and variations in service availability, allowing for a comparison of how crises intensify or recede over time and how specific challenges become more dominant in particular phases. The analysis is structured around three main aspects: access to services, the condition of infrastructure, and the uneven impact of humanitarian aid across different areas. The findings show that repeated displacement, damaged services, and limited aid intensify spatial inequalities over time, with certain vulnerabilities becoming more pronounced in specific phases.