The explosion shaking the walls of a dimly lit basement in Gaza City, where Noah Abu Hassirah and her three daughters are evacuated. They can’t see much through the small raised windows. But if the bustling drones and the sounds of lively airstrikes are any indication, The Israeli army is approaching.
Abu Hassirah is behind despite the Israeli warnings evacuation. She suffers debilitating leg injuries from the airstrike that destroyed her home The beginning of the war And like many in the devastated territory, she can’t come up with the $2,000 that would cost her to move to southern Gaza and market her tent at evacuation camps.
meanwhile Most Palestinians in Gaza City fled At some point in the 23-month long war, Abkhasila was mostly bedridden, except for the 11 times when he had to move to the city to keep him safe from Israeli attacks. Her husband is in Israeli prisonsand she and her young girl – Juli, Maria and Maha are still one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza city, where there were 1 million residents before the war.
“It feels like we’re just waiting to die. I don’t care much anymore,” Abu Hassirah wrote the text.
Israel says the attack is intended to destroy Hamas and release hostages that were taken during the attack that launched the war. It says it is taking steps to mitigate harm to civilians.
If Abu Hassirah’s family somehow manages to get it to the south, their troubles will not end.
“I’m scared to live in a tent with my daughter. I’m drowsing in the winter. I’m scared of insects. How do I get water?” she said.
Air strikes destroyed their homes
Eight months before the war, Abu Hassirah and her family moved to an apartment in Gaza city. She worked as an engineer at a medical research institute. Her husband, Lead, was a journalist at a media outlet suspected of linking with Hamas. Abu Hassirah said her husband is not part of an extremist group.
Their oldest Juri was in elementary school. Maria was about to start kindergarten. Maha was just a baby.
“We worked and saved us for 10 years to have a comfortable, lovely home, a home of our dreams. It’s gone now,” she said.
After Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and acquiring 251 people, Israel responded with violent airstrikes and ground invasions across Gaza. That December, Abhasilas’ apartment was attacked.
The explosion secured Abu Hassirah under the tile rub, crushing his shoulders, back and legs, knocking down a concrete pillar that knocked into a coma state. Her daughters were also buried in the tile rub, but they all survived.
Israeli forces attacked the hospital
Abu Hassirah woke up at Shifa Hospital. Her daughter, Maria, lay beside her in a broken skull.
Israeli forces attacked the hospital a few weeks ago. I accuse Hamas of protecting it there.. The supplies were low. It was packed with displaced people and doctors, and I was engrossed in the steady flow of victims coming through the gates.
Her husband sent two other girls to stay with his uncle so he could take care of his mother and daughter in the hospital.
“He’ll change my diaper, my clothes,” Abu Hasshira said. “I lay on my back for three months, and he cared for me, combed my hair and bathed me.”
March 2024, Israeli military He attacked the hospital againarrests many men, including Abu Hassirah’s husband. He is now one of hundreds of Palestinian men whose comprehensive and legal status remains unknown during the war.
She hasn’t heard from him, but Addmameer, a Palestinian legal aid organization, said he visited him in an Israeli prison last November. Israeli prisons, the Singh Bett Intelligence Agency, and the military refused to say why he was arrested or where he was being held.
“Maha was over a year old when he took his father away,” Abu Hasshira said. “She has never said the word ‘daddy’. ”
She feared that her daughter would die
Israeli forces said they killed about 200 militants in a two-week battle inside the vast Sifa hospital. The World Health Organization said 21 patients died during the siege. Israel denied the harm of civilians.
When the soldiers told her to leave, Abu Hassirah escaped in a bag of fleet from the intrusion, leaving behind a wheelchair, most of her clothes and food. As Israel raids in and around Gaza City, the family spent the rest of the year moving from one location to another.
“The hardest part is living in someone else’s house… especially with little kids, everything is expensive. I had to use them because I had no clothes or belongings,” she said.
In the fall of 2024, Israel was primarily sealed from Northern Gaza, including Gaza city. Launching major ground operations And it will significantly limit humanitarian aid. It was difficult to find clean water. They ate more than bread. Her oldest Juri became ill from malnutrition.
“I felt weak, lonely and helpless,” Abu Hassirah said. “I couldn’t do anything for them, fearing that my daughter would die.”
The neighbor volunteered to take Juli to a malnutrition programme where the girl began to recover.
In January, the long-awaited ceasefire took hold and raised hopes that the war would decline. Hundreds of thousands of people Back in Gaza city, Abu Hassirah’s extended family was reunited, and Israel allowed humanitarian assistance to flow in.
The war will resume
but Israel shattered the ceasefire In March, more airstrikes were launched after halting imports of food, medicines and other goods. This is a complete lockdown that will be eased in 25 months.
In Gaza city, families like Abhasilas often lack food. This costs 10 times more than pre-war sugar (2.2 pounds) of sugar, about $180 and kilograms of flour, about $60.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. This does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry is part of Hamas-run government, but UN agencies and many independent experts consider the figures as the most reliable estimate of the victims.
In August, international experts decided Gaza city was experiencing hunger. A few weeks later, Israel launched an attack to capture the city, saying Hamas needed to pressure them to release the remaining 48 hostages.
Abu Hassirah has seen the evacuation leaflet dropped by Israeli aircraft. Many of her neighbors stuffed in and left.
However, she can barely walk, and ride the truck costs around $900 south. The cost of the tent will be around $1,100, she says, and who knows who will put it. The humanitarian belt designated for Israel consists primarily of crowded camps and destroyed buildings. Family members who moved to new lots for evacuees found them Sparse and lawlessarmed gangs are patrolling the area to demand rent.
For now, Abu Hassirah says she and her daughters will remain underground in the parents’ basement in the once-raised river neighbourhood near the Mediterranean. She says she hasn’t washed her food either and spends the day sitting and lying down in a chair. She needs help to use the bathroom.
“My daughter and I hope we will die together before we are forced to leave,” she said. “We’re tired.”
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Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Abou Aljoud was reported by Beirut.
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