In less than two months, Ashraf and his family have been left homeless three times. With the Israeli military bombings and tanks always on their heels, they have had to make a pilgrimage from one point to another from the north of the Gaza Strip to the extreme south, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been cornered in very poor conditions.
with his wife and ten children in tow, Ashraf al Nahal had to abandon his home in the Al Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, to stay in Gaza City, the heart of the Palestinian enclave. When that city was reduced to rubble and ashes, surrounded by Israel’s ground forces, He fled to the southern half of the enclave, to Khan Yunisas ordered by the millions of leaflets dropped from the air by the Army.
But now, with an increasingly extensive offensive, The Army itself describes that region as a “dangerous combat zone” and ordered its evacuation in the face of the myriad of bombings it launched and the imminent arrival of its ground troops. Dilapidated pick-up trucks leave there, packed with people, in the middle of a disaster zone: collapsed buildings still smoking from the bombings, wounded people that no one cares for, burned-out cars, scattered personal belongings, and everything covered in a thick layer of ashes that It became mud with the rains.
The Khan Yunis area that the Army asked to evacuate corresponds to more than 20% of Gazan territory, and was home to some 469,000 inhabitants in addition to thousands of displaced people, according to OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency.
“We have begun to wish for death”
Driven further and further south, displaced families They have only one option left: to move again, this time to Rafah, a city next to the border with Egypt that is also not free from fire. Last night, it was bombed and there were dozens of deaths. There, hundreds of thousands of displaced people live overcrowded, many outdoors in the middle of winter, in the midst of the outbreak of epidemics, the collapse of hospitals and the shortage of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel.
Ashraf managed to reach Rafah, but with his pockets already empty. He sifts through the trash and rubble hoping to find something that can be used to build a shelter – again -: wooden sticks for missing beams, large rocks instead of foundations, a piece of plastic that will be the roof, dusty blankets or rugs for the floor. Furthermore, he has to find water and bread for his children, at least for this day. “My family and I have begun to wish for death… at least we would be at peace. Why stay alive if in any case we will only live so that the Israelis want us dead. “If we were already dead, at least we would be free from all this misery and this pain,” he told EFE.
Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said last night that his forces “continue to expand their ground operations,” and that they bomb to “reduce threats” to their soldiers. For its part, the Ministry of Health in Gaza assured that “the occupation expanded the scope of its attacks against civilians, did not leave even an inch of Gaza without bombing, and falsely claims the existence of safe areas.”
New trips
In Rafah, dozens of carp begin to sprout on a sandy esplanade. A boy helps his father cutting wood with a saw, a baby sleeps outdoors on a mat on the floora teenager remains motionless in front of the scene, staring into space.
“The Jews said that Khan Yunis and Hamad were dangerous, that’s why we came to Rafah. I hope it’s safe, that they’re honest this time, because I’m trying to set up a tent,” Ibrahim Abdullah, a 72-year-old man, tells EFE while digging. in the sand with no other tool than his hands. A woman named Salama, who did not want to reveal her identity, says that The last days in Khan Yunis were unbearable.
“Bomberings, attacks… I have a heart condition, I had two heart attacks, the Jews sent messages to our cell phones asking us to leave the house, if not, it will be our responsibility. I am no longer young to take part in these marches, I have 75 years, we need a shelter,” he says.
The war broke out on October 7 after a Hamas attack that left more than 1,200 dead in Israel. Since then, Israeli air, naval and ground forces have attacked the Strip without ceasing -except during a seven-day truce- leaving more than 15,520 dead, 41,316 injured, more than 7,000 missingand 1.8 million displaced people, 80% of the total population.
“The Israeli occupation wants to end the Palestinian presence in the Gaza Strip, either through massacres or forced displacement,” said Ashraf al Qudr, spokesman for the Ministry of Health. “Displaced people in shelters are exposed to an unprecedented humanitarian and health disaster, which will claim the lives of thousands of them due to the widespread spread of respiratory, skin and other infections,” he warned.
Source: Lasexta
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