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Gazans living along the border with Israel are in despair after being ordered by the Israeli military to leave neighbourhoods that they had returned to barely two months ago.
The eviction order was issued on Tuesday morning after overnight air strikes across the Palestinian enclave that killed more than 460 people – 75 per cent of them children, women and the elderly – and injured more 650, according to updated figures released by Gaza health ministry on Wednesday.
People living in Beit Hanoun in the north and in Khirbet Khuza’a, Abasan Al Kabira and Al Jadida in the south were told to leave immediately because these areas bordering Israel were now considered “dangerous combat zones”.
Mohammed Qudeih, a father of five, left his home in Khirbet Khuza’a and took his family back to the coastal Al Mawasi area. Israel forced thousands of families to move there during 15 months of devastating war with Hamas that was halted by a ceasefire that began on January 19.
“We told ourselves that the war was over, that it wouldn’t return,” Mr Qudeih, 37, told The National. “We did our best to repair our destroyed homes, trying to rebuild some sense of normality. But what happened [on Tuesday] was beyond all expectations – it turned our lives upside down.
“Suddenly, we were forced to evacuate again, leaving our homes behind and returning to a life of displacement in tents because war had come back once more.
“Being displaced during Ramadan is incredibly difficult. There is no food, no water, because the border crossings are closed. In short, this is suffering beyond imagination.”
Israel has banned the entry of aid into Gaza since March 2 to pressure Hamas into accepting new terms for the ceasefire instead of beginning negotiations on the second phase of the truce as previously agreed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Tuesday's air strikes were “only the beginning” unless the militant group agreed to immediately free more of the hostages it seized during the October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
Adham Al Masri, 47, said his family fled Beit Hanoun in panic after Israel's new eviction orders. “We ran out of our tents, terrified that the army would suddenly advance on us and launch a military operation like they did in the past,” Mr Al Masri said.
“The moment I saw the evacuation orders for Beit Hanoun, fear gripped me. The same question that has haunted us throughout the war resurfaced – where will we go this time? Every new evacuation forces us into the unknown.”
He said his family of 14, including a married son and his family, grabbed whatever essentials they could carry and ended up seeking refuge with cousins in the Al Nasr neighbourhood of Gaza city.
“As for food, there was barely any to begin with. The siege has been suffocating us since the start of Ramadan, leaving us with nothing. That’s why we took whatever little supplies we had – just enough to get us through iftar.”
About 60 per cent of an estimated 30,000 people living in Beit Hanoun have left the area since Tuesday, according to the Joint Humanitarian Operations Centre for Gaza, while between 4,500 and 5,500 families had left eastern areas of Khan Younis including Khirbet Khuza'a.
“The hardest thing we are facing is the return of war,” Mr Al Masri said. “Honestly, all parties bear responsibility for this. The Israeli occupation refuses to uphold any agreements. Hamas must provide us with alternatives since they threw us into this catastrophe, and the international community is equally responsible. No one is taking responsibility for us as displaced people, as ordinary civilians. We should at least have access to basic necessities – food, water, and the means to survive.”
Abdul Rahim Hamad, 41, said his family fled from Beit Hanoun to Jabalia camp, several kilometres away.
“We left with our tents on foot because we had no means of transportation, carrying only the basic necessities and some canned food and legumes,” he said.
“This war has to stop, it’s enough. People can no longer endure this life or its hardships.”