There are 562,000 Palestinian refugees in the West Bank of whom 150,000 live in 19 refugee camps. Most of the camps are like slum areas on the edge of big towns. Around sixty per cent of the West Bank Palestinians live in villages and are not refugees. Gaza's refugee camps are amongst the most densely populated places in the world. Beach Camp alone has some 67,000 Palestinians living in just over half a square kilometre.
Some houses have as many as ten people living in one room.
The provision of sanitation is still lacking. Sewer systems in Gaza reach only 35 per cent of homes in the refugee camps. One of the most serious problems facing Gaza's population is water quality. The yearly rainfall does not meet the annual requirement and the water shortage has forced Gazans to drink poor quality water. Palestinians in Jordan Between 1948 and 1967, the West Bank was under Jordanian rule.