For example, in the West Bank 143,000 live in camps while 400,000 don't. In Gaza, however, where conditions are terrible, there are 400,000 living in the camps and 335,000 outside. The other two-thirds live independently throughout the areas and Jerusalem with communities around the Middle East and North Africa and emigrants going to the United States and Europe. The camps have evolved over the years. Unlike the concentration camps they tend to resemble, there are no fences.
People are free to move.
However, as most lost land and livelihood, they have nowhere else to go. This is especially true of widows with children, the elderly, disabled and orphans. Some camps are as large as small cities. Relief services were sent in, at first to provide food and shelter, eventually providing aid for hardship cases. Every camp has a health clinic run by the agency.