It all started with a simple rumor in the middle of the morning: a handful of Palestinians had managed to reach the north of the strip by following the beach route. Immediately after, thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes began to climb from Rafah, Khan Iunis or Deir al-Balah, the coast line in the direction of the north, in the hope of being able to return to their homes. All this without the appearance of a single soldier.
“I couldn’t continue in the south, there are too many people, you can’t breathe down there,” explained Basma Salman to a journalist who followed this unexpected exodus. The most privileged have gone by car, others by bicycle, some families have boarded a cart pulled by a donkey. They did not know in what condition they would find their houses or what the situation was in the north, where only the elderly who could not leave their homes remain.
Suddenly, after several kilometers, when the first contingent of the column moved parallel to Gaza City, disillusionment came. The soldiers appeared to tell them that they could not continue. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) informed AFP that no one had authorized this movement and that the north “continues to be a war zone”.
Half of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been forced to flee their homes and take refuge further south as Israeli fighter jets and ground offensives leave them with no other choice. Bombed and besieged, the Gaza Strip has become a death trap for its inhabitants, faced with exodus, cold and hunger.
Gazans questioned by AFP said they took refuge from soldiers’ gunfire as they advanced north. “They were shooting at the men,” explains Nour, a man in his thirties. I had to turn around. Nobody wants to die.”
After six months of war, the IDF announced on April 7 the withdrawal from Gaza territory with the exception of one brigade. All pending the final assault on Rafah, where the last battalions of Hamas are stationed, according to the Israeli army. In parallel with the withdrawal of the bulk of the Israeli army, however, the Israeli bombardment of the strip has not ceased in recent days.
One and a half million Gazans live in terrible conditions according to the United Nations. And they fear seeing themselves surrounded even in the midst of heavy fighting. That’s why the desire to go north. Many have their relatives there. The north, however, is one of the most desolate areas of the strip, and the place where the effects of hunger due to the blockade of humanitarian aid have been felt most on the population.
So far, according to data from the Ministry of Health of Gaza, in the hands of Hamas, the number of deaths among the population of the strip reaches 33,729.
