Palestinians who fled Israel's advance on Gaza city are arriving to hunger and despair in the south, despite Israeli claims that "generous humanitarian aid" would await them.
Under the scorching sun and the constant danger of hunger and thirst, thousands of displaced families in Gaza are struggling to survive in makeshift camps that offer little more than strips of cloth and wood for shelter.
Mohammed Ghabboun, 38, reluctantly left Gaza city for Deir Al Balah after Israel stepped up operations in his neighbourhood, Sheikh Radwan. “If a person is alone, they might manage somehow, but when you have a family and children, the burden is much heavier," he said.
He recalls spending more than five days “literally in the open” before finding a spot in a camp along Gaza's coast. With his wife and six children, he built a fragile tent from scraps of cloth and wood. No one, he says, has checked on them since.
“No food, no drink, no water,” was how Mr Ghabboun described his conditions.
“We’re sitting in extremely harsh conditions that no human being can endure. If it weren’t for the danger in our area, I would have gone back. But my children make me constantly think: if something happens to one of them, I will never forgive myself, nor those who brought us to this state.”
Israeli troops are mounting a new offensive to capture Gaza city, and have declared the entire area a "dangerous combat zone", ordering civilians to leave. "Every family that relocates to the south will receive the most generous humanitarian aid," the army claimed last month.
Many Palestinians were reluctant to leave despite a famine in Gaza city, fearing an Israeli design to relocate them permanently. But Israel has ramped up pressure on civilians to head for Al Mawasi in the south.
One refugee in Al Mawasi, Ibrahim Abu Warda, 56, fled with 21 relatives – his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren – only for the family to find themselves crammed inside a tent far too small for their numbers.
“All the money we had, we spent on transporting our belongings and on the price of a tent,” he told The National. “Now, we can’t even find food. Since the start of the war, we have been dead, not living.”
The family had briefly returned home during a truce, believing their ordeal was over. But the resumption of violence forced them to leave once again. In Al Mawasi, Mr Abu Warda said, water is scarce, and aid rarely reaches the people who need it most.
“Everything gets stolen before it arrives. No one is checking on us,” he said. “I only hope the war ends as soon as possible, so we can return to our normal lives, go back to our homes, and live with stability, happiness, and peace.”
For Nasreen Al Ayyoubi, 34, a mother of four from Al Sabra area of Gaza city, displacement has been more humiliating than she could ever have imagined. “The conditions are harsher than a human being could ever describe,” she said.
“No proper water, no food, no aid, no bathrooms, nothing that preserves human dignity or feelings. Everything is humiliating people in ways no one can imagine.”
Ms Al Ayyoubi resisted leaving her home for weeks, hoping to avoid the indignities of camp life. But when the gunfire and shelling intensified in her neighbourhood, she and her family were forced to flee. They ended up in Deir Al Balah, pitching a tent on relatives’ land.
“Everything is far from basic services, no water, and we have to walk a kilometre just to bring some,” she explained. “We’ve been displaced for nine days now. The children haven’t bathed or cleaned properly because there’s no water and no hygiene supplies. We hear about aid, but we never see it.”
What remains, she said, is unbearable heat, suffocating air, and a life stripped of the most basic human needs.
