Mahmoud Abu Hazaa, 38, has been struggling to feed his wife and five children as famine grips Gaza city.
The Palestinian fled to the enclave’s largest urban area after being displaced by Israel's war.
Now, with Israel preparing for a ground invasion of the city, their options have narrowed further: stay and risk death from hunger or bombardment, or flee without knowing what awaits.
“We are living in deep confusion,” he told The National. “I don’t know what to do. Should I flee or stay? And if I flee, how would I cover the costs, and how would I even leave, and where would I go? There is no place left in the south.”
He worries most about being trapped with his children if the assault escalates. Israel imposes restrictions on the movement of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip, making it difficult for them to flee.
“For now, staying seems the most likely option,” he said. “But if the shelling intensifies, I will be forced to leave. The occupation [Israeli army] does not hesitate – entire residential blocks can be wiped out in a moment.”
Israel is pressing ahead with plans to reoccupy Gaza city, opening the door to a full takeover of the territory for the first time in 20 years.
The Israeli military currently controls about 75 per cent of the strip. Its officials have ordered one million Gazans to leave Gaza city, warning they face “death by hunger or war” if they remain.
In Jabalia Al Nazla, north of Gaza city, Ibrahim Al Ashram, 31, has resisted the pressure to leave despite Israeli troops operating less than 500 metres away.
Days ago, he moved his furniture to his brother’s house in the Beach Camp, fearing he would lose everything if forced to flee under fire. “I have no tent, no shelter. I have nowhere to go – only the streets, and even those are overflowing with displaced families,” he said.
Others, such as Marwan Al Souri, 26, have decided they will not leave again. He and his family returned to their home in Gaza city's Al Nasr district after surviving an earlier displacement to the south.
“Displacement is not just moving from one place to another,” he told The National. “It is like death itself, like the soul leaving the body. Nothing can ease its burden. That is why we decided not to leave.”
For Mr Al Souri, the decision is also financial. “Just transporting furniture to the south costs at least $1,000,” he added. “Beyond that, there are no tents, no basics. Many families like us have decided to stay because they simply cannot afford to flee.”
No vegetables or fruit
On Friday, the UN formally declared a famine in Gaza city after months of Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid, which created severe shortages of food and water for more than two million people. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said famine will likely spread to Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.
More than 132,000 children under the age of five were suffering from malnutrition, including 41,000 severe cases. More than 280 have died of starvation.
Shadi Mahmoud, 44, a civil servant and father of six, has endured repeated cycles of deprivation. The war – sparked by Hamas’s attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis – has since killed more than 62,000 Palestinians.
“At the beginning of the war, we lived off what little food we had stored at home, because the markets were empty,” he told The National.
Mr Mahmoud lived in the Jabalia camp until his house was destroyed in May 2024, forcing him to move to Sheikh Radwan in Gaza city. By December, his family had run out of food.
“The harshest days were when we ate animal feed, barley, and wheat, bought at exorbitant prices – if they were even available,” he recalled. “We had no vegetables, no fruit, no legumes, no canned goods. Only bread made from fodder and some wild herbs.”
A brief truce in January 2025 allowed aid convoys in, bringing vegetables, fruit, dairy products, and even meat. “We ate things we hadn’t tasted since the start of the war,” he said.
But when the truce ended, so did relief. By May, he was again forced to buy essentials daily at extortionate prices.
“I needed at least $100 a day – for flour, lentils, and a few simple items. It was all coming from savings I had set aside for the future.”
All of his children have lost at least 10kg each. He himself has shed 25 kilograms over two years of war.
“It’s famine on all of our watch. Gaza’s famine is the world’s famine. A famine that asks: 'What did you do?' A famine that will – and must – haunt us all,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on Friday.
