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Israel is forcing famine-affected Palestinians out of Gaza City, but they have nowhere safe to go. Malnourished children and critically ill patients are among the tens of thousands of people now forced to walk south for many hours as Israel’s assault intensifies – with some so sick they have to be transported in wheelbarrows as they can barely even stand up.
Families in Gaza City are facing two deadly options – stay put under increasing bombardment and siege, or follow Israeli orders to move south to camps where families are being killed in their shelters and suffer life-threatening overcrowding, starvation and diseases.
The sole road south is now packed with desperate families fleeing on foot, donkey cart or overcrowded cars. They have taken only what they can carry and don’t know what awaits them or where they will stay.
But hundreds of thousands more civilians remain trapped in the city and are terrified or unable to leave. Many are malnourished, sick, elderly, exhausted from being repeatedly displaced, or have no fuel for transport. Others fear having nowhere to shelter if they leave and know they face extreme deprivation in the camps where they are being sent. Others fear never being allowed to return to their homes if they leave.
Over the past 48 hours we have seen some of the deadliest attacks yet, as bombs and artillery tear through neighbourhoods. Islamic Relief’s aid workers in Gaza City are among those displaced, further disrupting aid delivery at a time when children are starving to death and lifesaving aid is needed more than ever before. Israel has also now closed the main entry point for food and fuel, and the UN is warning that supplies could run out within days. The last remaining hospitals in Gaza City have barely any fuel or medicine to keep going and are inundated with wounded civilians.
Ahmed*, a father of four children, told Islamic Relief: “We don’t want to leave but we have no choice. If we stay we’ll be killed by bombs and famine. But if we go they still bomb us and starve us. Our only choice is whether we die here or there.”
Ordering people to leave does not absolve Israel of its obligations under international law to refrain from harming civilians who cannot, or choose not to, leave.
Israel’s unlawful plan to permanently seize Gaza City, the largest urban area, aims to empty it of Palestinians. Israel has now ordered Palestinians to leave 82% of Gaza and senior Israeli officials have repeatedly stated their intention to force Palestinians out of Gaza completely, which would amount to ethnic cleansing.
The conditions that await families moving south are appalling and will become even worse due to the new influx of people. Hundreds of thousands of people are already squeezed into tents along the beach, crammed into school shelters, or sleeping in the open on the rubble of destroyed homes. The desperately overcrowded camps are rife with starvation and disease, as Israel continues to block most aid from reaching people. The UN-backed IPC warned last month that famine is spreading here.
These areas are often described as ‘safe zones’ but they are anything but safe – families ordered to shelter here have repeatedly been bombed and killed in their tents, including in the past couple of days.
This week the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and Islamic Relief and other major aid agencies are calling on world leaders to take immediate action to stop the slaughter, demand an immediate ceasefire, and ensure full humanitarian access across all of Gaza.