Local media reports that Israel intends to deport Palestinians to Egypt after they are trapped in the southern region.
Huda Naim, a journalist from Gaza, said:
“Many people went from north to south in the hope of finding a safe area, but in recent days we have seen that there is no safe place. Civilians have been targeted and massacres have been carried out there too. They are trying to move the 2.3 million people in a very small area, first from north to south, then from southeast to southwest like puppets.”
She said people in southern Gaza were holding tightly to their land because they “know very well what will happen if they leave Gaza. “She added:
“This will be irreversible, just like the Nakba in 1948. The Nakba can’t happen again. Millions of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their lands in 1948 cannot return to their lands. This tragedy that Palestinians have experienced for 75 years cannot happen again.”
The Nakba is the mass transfer of Palestinians from what is now Israel during the 1948 war.
Stressing that UN schools in Gaza were overcrowded and could no longer take in new people, she said people attacked by Israel in winter had to contend with hunger, disease and epidemics.
Gaza was one of the most densely populated cities in the world before the attacks that began on 7 October, she said, adding:
“It is mentally unacceptable for 80 people to live in a 100-square-meter house. There is no water, no electricity, no gas, nothing.”
Despite all these hardships, she said Palestinians were trying to tolerate and endure the Israeli occupation.
While Israel tries to brand Palestinians as “human animals,” she said these peoplewere not just numbers, everyone in Gaza had a unique life and history. She added:
“We are all made of flesh, bones, ambitions, and dreams. A person in Gaza deserves to live and have a good life and own his own land like a person in the US.”
Israel has carried out regular airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, imposed a blockade and launched a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border Hamas attack on 7 October.
Since then, at least 18,608 Palestinians have been killed and 50,594 injured in the Israeli offensive, according to Gaza health authorities. The official death toll from the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, while some 139 hostages remain in captivity, according to official figures.
