Israel and Hamas at war | Displaced people in Gaza do not know where to go

(Khan Younes) Since the Israeli army ordered them to leave the north of the Gaza Strip, thousands of Palestinians have crowded into the south of the enclave close to Egypt, where they lack everything.

In Khan Younes, one of the two large cities in the south, the schools of UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, were quickly overwhelmed by the influx of families.

It is always this agency that we turn to in Gaza, where more than 80% of the inhabitants are descendants of refugees, driven from their land when Israel was created in 1948.

With schools full to capacity, the courtyard and corridors of Nasser hospital are now filling with thousands of displaced people.

In the surrounding area, store shelves are empty, because they can no longer stock up after Israel declared a total siege of Gaza, no longer allowing in goods, fuel, water or electricity for the 2.4 million people. of inhabitants.

“It’s a disaster, there is nothing to eat, we don’t know where to sleep, and we don’t know what to do or where to go,” laments Jouma Nasser, a forty-year-old accompanied by his mother and his wife. and their seven children.

In front of the hospital, sitting on the ground, entire families are left to their own devices, some crying, others showing frightened and shocked faces.

Inside, exhausted medical teams are working tirelessly as the area has been the scene of intense Israeli bombardments in recent hours.

Since the Israeli army dropped leaflets on Friday ordering residents of northern Gaza to flee “immediately” to the south, everyone has feared a ground offensive.

Already, in response to the surprise Hamas attack which left at least 1,300 dead on October 7, the Israeli army is relentlessly shelling the 362 km enclave.²bordered to the north and east by Israel, to the west by the Mediterranean and to the south by Egypt.

More than 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 724 children, according to local authorities, died in the Gaza Strip.

This cramped territory has been subject to an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since Hamas took power there 16 years ago.

“Feed the children”

In Khan Younès, opposite the Nasser hospital, dozens of displaced Gazan families have taken over an UNRWA school, piling up laundry, mattresses and packages in the classrooms and playground.

“Our situation is tragic, there is not enough food or water. We don’t know if we are going to die here or if they will force us to go to Egypt or return to our homes, which may have been destroyed,” Ahmed Abu Shaar, father of 13, told AFP.

In Rafah, less than ten kilometers further south, entire families are wandering the streets looking for accommodation, AFP journalists noted on site.

In the refugee camp of this small town on the Egyptian border, a restaurant served falafel non-stop on Friday until it ran out late at night.

In front of a water distribution point, dozens of people wait their turn to be able to fill their gallons with the precious liquid.

The evacuation order which concerns around 1.1 million inhabitants of the northern Gaza Strip will have “devastating” consequences, warns the UN.

The army accused Hamas, which rejected the call for evacuations, of trying to block departures.

More than 423,000 Palestinians have already left their homes, and 5,540 houses destroyed, according to the UN.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas likened such a “displacement” to a “second Nakba” (“Catastrophe” in Arabic), in reference to the exodus of some 760,000 Palestinians at the creation of the State of Israel. .