7-11-2023 (GAZA) In the wake of the events that unfolded after October 7, the skies over Gaza have been filled with the ominous descent of bombs, accompanied by leaflets urging the 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to seek refuge further south. Reda Sahoiun, a 40-year-old charity worker, found herself making the difficult decision to leave her home. Alongside her elderly mother, she hastily packed her belongings, including a ring, two necklaces, bracelets, blankets, and painkillers, before embarking on a journey to the southern city of Khan Younis in search of safety. However, the relative safety she sought remained elusive, as the conflict continued to unfold.
For Sahouin, her stay in Khan Younis proved short-lived, lasting only four days. The proximity to the ongoing explosions made it far from secure. She recounted, “It was not safe at all there; they bombed the house next to ours without warning.” On October 24, just before Israeli ground troops launched an assault on the northern Gaza Strip, she began to question her decision once more. The situation had grown even more perilous, with the Israeli military having encircled Gaza City, leaving many with increasingly limited escape routes. The Israeli government’s goal was to dismantle Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, which had recently carried out attacks resulting in numerous casualties and hostage situations.
Israel’s strategy in this endeavor involved an intense and unrelenting bombing campaign, described by the Hamas-run health ministry as having claimed the lives of over 10,000 Palestinians and rendering Gaza nearly uninhabitable. This figure aligns with estimates from relief organizations. Tragically, at least 4,000 of the deceased are children, with many still buried beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings. Children who arrive at hospitals have their names written on their arms to aid in identification, in case their parents do not survive. Some of the deceased are interred in mass graves. While the Gaza death toll figures cannot be independently verified and do not distinguish between civilians and active Hamas members, Israeli officials have contended that Hamas inflates these numbers. In response, authorities in Gaza have published the names of the deceased alongside their ID numbers. The majority of fatalities occurred in the north, but casualties have also been recorded in areas presumed to be safe.
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— Jackson Hinkle ???????? (@jacksonhinklle) November 4, 2023
Gazans, who spoke to Bloomberg, find themselves in a perilous situation where they must weigh their safety against the backdrop of dwindling supplies of food and water. Despite the United Nations reporting that 451 aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza since hostilities began, it is essential to acknowledge that the besieged enclave relies heavily on such donations for survival. This number pales in comparison to the 500 daily deliveries made before the war, and not a single one of these deliveries included fuel. Israel has accused Hamas of hoarding fuel intended for the civilian population.
Following U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the Middle East, U.S. officials expressed concerns to The Washington Post about the severity of Israel’s counterattack against Hamas. They pointed out the high number of civilian casualties and the absence of a coherent endgame. However, their efforts to influence Israel’s course of action appeared to have been insufficient.
For the ordinary citizens of Gaza, the conflict is not their battle, but they have been inexorably drawn into it. They describe a place that, at just 25 miles in length, is small enough to entrapped them yet large enough to make traversing its length without transport a significant challenge, particularly for those moving without family and belongings. According to the United Nations, nearly half of Gaza’s population comprises children.
Escaping the devastating effects of Israel’s bombardment became even riskier when the military advanced westward, effectively splitting the Gaza Strip in two. With missiles targeting residential areas along its entire length, the people of Gaza have been left with few options and no means to reach safety.
In a rare diplomatic development since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, a deal brokered by Qatar and the U.S. initially allowed foreign passport holders to leave through the otherwise closed Rafah border crossing. However, this evacuation process has encountered recent setbacks. Some individuals, like Mai, a Palestinian with German citizenship, remain trapped in the north, unsure of how to reach the southern border after learning that roads have been cut off. While Israel recently announced that people can leave on foot, many are hesitant due to concerns about Israeli naval strikes on vehicles along the coastal road, aimed at targeting Hamas.
Gaza’s residents now find themselves in a state of what Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has referred to as a “total siege,” where time appears to have come to a standstill. Schools, businesses, and normal daily activities have been halted. The limited supply of fuel available has left most cars dependent on what they had in their tanks at the onset of the conflict. Furthermore, the war has disrupted the flow of accurate information in a place where the truth has long been contested, mainly by two adversarial powers: Hamas, which has been in control since 2006, and neighboring Israel, which, with Egypt’s assistance, controls Gaza’s borders.
Israel remains deeply affected by the events of October 7, struggling to comprehend how the rest of the world appears to have moved on while it grapples with the consequences of the conflict. U.S. envoy Blinken acknowledged Israel’s ongoing trauma during his comments in Tel Aviv, stressing Israel’s need to defend itself and highlighting the tragic loss of innocent lives on that day.
The conflict has also taken a toll on humanitarian efforts. UNRWA, the UN agency overseeing Palestinian refugees, has lost 79 employees in the conflict, with some of its shelters directly hit.
Despite the ongoing violence, some aspects of life in Gaza continue, albeit with difficulty. The United Nations Population Fund reports that approximately 50,000 pregnant women are currently caught in the midst of the conflict, with over a tenth of them expected to give birth within the next 30 days. Anwaar Munya, one such expectant mother, sought shelter at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital in hopes of escaping airstrikes near her home. She went into labor in a tent within the hospital’s courtyard.
Bissan al-Mabhouh, living in the southern town of Rafah near the Egyptian border, has opened her home to extended family members seeking refuge. The conflict has depleted their financial resources, leaving them in a precarious situation.
Gaza’s water situation has also reached a critical point. Tap water has always been undrinkable due to high salinity and contamination. With Gaza’s power supply cut off outside of hospitals, even those fortunate enough to own water filtration equipment find it useless without electricity. Families have resorted to long walks to collect drinking water from friends who possess filtration equipment and solar panels.
Before the conflict, the southern Gaza Strip received slightly over 80 liters of water per person per day, just below the recommended minimum of 100 liters. However, the World Health Organization now estimates that the average daily water allocation in Gaza has dwindled to just three liters. Monzer Shublaq, director of the water utility for Gaza’s coastal municipalities, explained that there is insufficient power to pump water to households. In the north, where there is no municipal water, some previously closed contaminated wells are being used once more.
In the midst of these dire circumstances, Gazans continue to face challenges in accessing basic necessities, enduring a devastating conflict that has left them with few safe options for escape and limited access to essential resources.
