By Ahmad Awad
Wadi Gaza (EFE).- Thousands of Palestinians left Gaza City on Friday with all their belongings on their backs, heading to the south of the enclave, aware that they could die on their way due to constant Israeli bombardment.
“The places we are being forced to go to are not safe. They tell us, and we see on the news, that they (the Israeli army) bomb people, those who leave and those who return. They bomb because they claim there is a wanted person. They bomb regardless of whether or not there is someone wanted,” Adib Abderrahman Selim told EFE.
Selim, who is travelling along the Al-Rashid Street with many other families, either on top of cars or tractors, said that they are not leaving by choice, but are being forced to leave due to the continuous destruction caused by Israeli troops, drones, and fighter jets.
According to data from the Civil Defense rescue teams, some 53,000 Palestinians have lost their homes or the tents in which they were sheltering in Gaza City, following the systematic destruction of buildings, including 12 residential towers.
“These conditions force us to leave,” he lamented. “They don’t leave any trees, stones, or people; everything is destroyed,” he added.
Since Aug. 14, the United Nations has registered over 73,500 displacements from the northern to the southern part of the Gaza Strip via the Al-Rashid coastal road, including some 25,000 since Sep. 7 alone.
In terms of migrants in transit, several displacements can correspond to the same person, so this figure does not equate to the total number of displaced Palestinians.
Selim regrets having to leave “three-quarters” of his belongings behind in Gaza City, but what scares him most is what’s in store for them, what kind of life they will be able to have in Al-Mawasi, an area in the south of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian zone,” despite bombings also occurring there.
“There’s no electricity, no water, no sewage, nothing,” said this father about the overcrowded camps in Al-Mawasi.
The economic and human cost of displacement
On Friday, an Israeli attack took place in the area, targeting a shop near a desalination plant. According to a medical source from Nasser Hospital and data from the Red Cross Committee’s field hospital, a total of 27 people were injured.
“Either we live or we die together”
Mohamed al-Qoura, along with 20 other members of his extended family, is travelling with all his belongings.
“Whatever God wants to happen. Either we live or we die together,” he said.
“We had already moved south before, but we don’t know what changes may have occurred. Wherever there is water, that is where we will live,” Al-Qoura told EFE.
He highlighted the economic cost of displacement, over 3,000 shekels (891 dollars), to cross the enclave in a vehicle. Al-Qoura also mentioned the fatigue, thirst, and exhaustion resulting from almost two years of massacres.
“Suffering has reached everyone. The situation is hard,” he stressed, insisting that someone must stop the war.
According to local health data, over 64,700 Palestinians have died since October 2023, including 19,000 children. NGOs, UN rapporteurs, and experts have long called this offensive out as genocide.
“May they put an end to this suffering and destruction, and to the constant displacement of every three or four months. We need a solution!” Al-Qoura concluded. EFE
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