GAZA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- As the Israel-Hamas conflict has ravaged the Gaza Strip for more than three months, the daily suffering of the Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave has been exacerbated amid the lack of daily necessities.
The locals told Xinhua that they are struggling against death, starvation, diseases, and the complicated security situation on the ground, which together make them feel under pressure all the time.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Israel launched a large-scale military offensive in Gaza after the Hamas movement, the ruler of the area, attacked the nearby southern Israeli cities, killed more than 1,200 people, and took over 200 others as hostages to Gaza.
Since then, more than 24,000 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and the elderly, were killed by the Israeli army, and over 61,000 others were wounded in the enclave, updated the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Thursday.
In addition, the Israeli army destroyed more than 70 percent of the buildings in Gaza, displacing more than two million Palestinians, out of whom about 1.5 million relocated to the southernmost city of Rafah, according to Ismail Thawabta, director general of the government media office in Gaza.
"Israel is deliberately displacing the Palestinians for political purposes of forcing them to leave Gaza by rendering it uninhabitable," Ismail told Xinhua.
Mohammed Mousa was forced to leave his home in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood south of Gaza City three months ago and moved southward to Rafah.
"We escaped from the certain death," the 39-year-old father of four recalled, saying, "Unfortunately, the situation in Rafah is not better than other places in Gaza. I live in a small tent without any basic human requirements. My family only counts the days without knowing our fate."
He complained that in Rafah, "there is no healthy and sufficient water, nor food, and if they do exist, they are provided at such exorbitant prices that no one in Gaza can afford," adding that "people are even deprived of human rights here in light of Israel's continued targeting of civilians everywhere."
Abdullah Abu Shawish, a Palestinian man from the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, is struggling with the same dire situation, especially after his area was exposed to continuous Israeli bombing for more than two weeks. The bombardments of such density prompted tens of thousands to flee the camp and head to Rafah.
At that time, the 42-year-old father of four preferred to stay in his home and take the risk as he believed that "no place is safe and everyone is targeted."
"Israel targets all Palestinians in all places (in Gaza), and if we continue to flee, we will go to Egypt," he told Xinhua, adding that "I would rather die in my home than flee and live a life of displacement to experience the difficulties in shelters."
He stated his sadness at the catastrophic change of his camp after it was emptied of residents, with most of its civilian and governmental facilities being destroyed.
"Just four months ago, it was difficult to walk on Market Street in Nuseirat because of the crowding, but today it is difficult to walk on it because of the destruction that affected everything in my area and erased all its features and details," the man recalled with tearful eyes.
Both Mousa and Abu Shawish wish the conflict could end soon to allow them to set up their tents above the rubble of their houses before the reconstruction of Gaza begins.
Recently, the Israeli army announced that it entered the third phase of its military operations in Gaza, which includes precise and targeted airstrikes, withdrawal of forces, and establishment of a buffer zone near the Gaza border.
As a result, a number of Israeli troops withdrew from several areas of Gaza, notably Gaza City and the northern part, which allowed Gaza residents to move around and inspect the destruction left by Israeli strikes.
However, it does not seem easy for the residents of Gaza City as it has turned into a ghost city with corpses scattered on the streets and a lack of transportation, communications, and humanitarian aid.
"Many times we thought we would inevitably die, but we survived until this moment," said Mohammed Abu Kamil, a local resident, while lamenting that "the situation is truly tragic in light of the absence of any horizon for this war to end."
The 46-year-old father of five told Xinhua that his family was forced to flee more than ten times inside Gaza City, and his children have suffered from dehydration due to malnutrition and the lack of healthy water.
"If the attack continues and the remaining Gaza residents are not saved, we will die either of hunger, thirst, or epidemics that have spread among us," he added.
