For the past 14 months, Zahra's family has been searching for safety in the northern Gaza Strip. They arrived in Gaza City in December. "The war was terrible from day one, but now it's hell," Zahra says. She and her family have taken shelter in a partially destroyed house in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. "We don't know if we will survive or die before the war is over."
Despite the Israeli army repeatedly warning people to head south, Zahra's family has decided to stay there - partly because they fear that if they leave, they will never be able to return home. "We didn't leave northern Gaza earlier because we knew they were bombing everywhere and we hoped the military operation would end soon. Instead, it has become even more unbearable,” says Zahra. “Our house in Jabalia was completely destroyed months ago, and now we are permanently displaced.”
Israel and the Hamas group, which is considered a terrorist group by the EU, the US, Germany and several other countries, are under pressure from the international community to reach a ceasefire agreement. It is supposed to release the last remaining Hamas hostages and stop the war so that civilians in the enclave can receive humanitarian aid. However, the conflict does not seem to be coming to an end. The Israeli army struck more than 100 targets in the Gaza Strip over the weekend after Hamas earlier fired on Israel.
“No water, no food, nothing”
Cold, rainy winter weather is flooding the tents and other makeshift shelters where many people in Gaza live. Not enough aid is reaching the people, aid agencies have warned in recent weeks - part of the problem is looting of aid, but also Israel's deterrence. The Gaza Civil Defense said an Israeli strike on Sunday killed security guards guarding aid convoys in southern Gaza.
Jabaliya and northern Gaza are now at the epicenter of a renewed Israeli army offensive that began in October. The Israelis say Hamas and other militant groups have regrouped there and have urged civilians to evacuate. But Palestinians and aid groups say there is no longer any safe place in Gaza, and the continued displacement is only exacerbating the problem. “People have no food, no water, no hygiene products, they have nothing. We need to be able to deliver at least the basics to survive,” said Jonathan Whitall, who traveled to Gaza with a UN delegation in December. Whitall said that in the past two months the UN has sent 140 requests to the Israeli army for access to northern Gaza. Israel has responded by calling the claims “misleading.”
Once displaced south, will they not be able to return?
The UN estimates that between 10,000 and 15,000 people are still in northern Gaza. However, there is no exact number. Much of the area is believed to have been razed to the ground. This has fueled suspicions that Israel intends to turn the territory into a buffer zone after the war. The Israeli army denies having implemented the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” which would have depopulated northern Gaza and declared civilians there legitimate military targets.
Last week, members of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee wrote to Defense Minister Israel Katz demanding the destruction of all sources of water, food, and energy in the region, expressing dissatisfaction that the Israeli army has not yet destroyed Hamas. Locals say there are already severe shortages of water and food, and the constant shelling makes it almost impossible to reach humanitarian corridors or travel south.
A fight for survival
The Gaza Strip is now divided in two by the so-called Netzarim Corridor - a military-controlled highway that runs from east to west. If Palestinians enter the southern part of the zone, they can no longer return north. An investigative report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted soldiers serving in the area as saying that several unarmed Palestinians who tried to return north were shot.
According to the United Nations, nearly 90 percent of Gaza's population of about 2.1 million people have been displaced from their homes. It is unclear whether Israel will ever allow them to return to their homes. "We don't know what our fate will be," says Zahra. "We don't know what lies ahead. But we pray to God that this war will end soon and that we can return to our homes, even if they are completely destroyed."