As Israeli annihilation of Gaza City advances, residents choose between death and displacement

The Israeli army opened a corridor today on Salah al-Din Street, ordering civilians in Gaza City and North Gaza to flee south. The day before, the army had announced the expansion of its ongoing ground invasion of Gaza City amid its intensive bombing campaign, which has so far leveled most of the city’s remaining high-rises and totally flattened its eastern neighborhoods, including al-Shuja’iyya, Sabra, and Zeitoun. Israeli tanks are now rolling into major residential areas at the edges of northern neighborhoods like Sheikh Radwan and al-Jalaa.

The ground invasion, dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, aims to “achieve the war’s objectives,” the army said. That objective is to raze Gaza City to the ground, as expressed by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday, stating that “Gaza is burning” and that the Israeli army “strikes with an iron fist at terrorist infrastructure.” 

In less than a week, the Israeli army has destroyed over 130 high-rises housing an estimated 17,000 people, according to Mahmoud Basal, the Civil Defense spokesperson in Gaza. An additional 500 buildings were damaged, causing the displacement of their 30,000 inhabitants, while 600 tents, five mosques, and ten schools-turned-shelters were destroyed in the bombardment, Basal added. 

“A total of over 50,000 people in Gaza have become homeless in the space of a week,” he said.

The Israeli army also hit telecommunications and internet services in Gaza City and North Gaza as overnight bombing raids targeted all areas in the north, including the al-Rantisi Pediatric Hospital west of Gaza City.

Nearly 800,000 people remain there, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Most are located in densely crowded makeshift displacement camps in the western part near the coast.

On the ground, civilians forced into the streets are ordered to leave the city, but have nowhere left to go. The Israeli army said in a briefing on Tuesday that it estimates 350,000 people have already left Gaza City. But according to local testimonies, a massive exodus out of the city has not happened so far, despite the carnage. Many report having already lost everything and have no fear of losing more. Others say they will try to hold out to the last second, but express fears that at some point, Israel will shut down all the evacuation routes for whoever remains. But all are aware of one thing: Gaza City might soon be erased.

‘There’s no point in struggling to find a better place in hell’

Despite the extensive warnings by the Israeli army and the gradual advance of ground forces, many civilians are choosing to relocate within the city rather than to flee altogether, saying they are done with evacuations. 

Sameh Fayez, a resident of al-Shuja’iyya, told Mondoweiss he is tired of the never-ending cycle of displacement. He is now staying in the Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza, where he moved after his home was destroyed, alongside the entire east Gaza neighborhood.

Fayez fled to southern Gaza for the first time in December 2023. His wife delivered a baby while they were in a tent. Now, he says that Gaza City and the south are the same. 

“Any place where the Israeli army is nearby is hell,” he explained. “There’s no point in struggling to find a better place in hell. It’s all the same. We’re not moving.”

Fayez added that after his family’s displacement to the south in overcrowded conditions with scarce resources, they are not keen to repeat the experience. 

“It’s another kind of death,” he said. “We will stay in our city, and when the Israeli army tells us to leave, we’ll tell them we’re staying.” 

Other families, despite knowing all the risks, are resolving to leave because even within the city, they have nowhere to stay, so at least they can go to a place without as much bombardment. 

Nabil Aljarousha, a father of a family of ten, evacuated the al-Saftawi area north of Gaza City. He described the last two days as the worst he and his family have experienced since October 2023.

“The Israeli army is using every method to kill people who refuse to leave,” he said. “Bombing, shelling, shooting. They bomb everywhere. Before we evacuated, the army bombed several houses in our area. We were the last ones standing on our small block. But they’ve destroyed our home, too, now.”

He and his family took the coastal route along al-Rashid Street, heading south. But many have found it difficult to take the same route, largely for practical or financial reasons. Either they have nowhere to go, or they simply can’t afford it — displacement has become an expense in and of itself, and few can cover the costs.

“I called a truck driver to move my belongings to the south,” Ahmad Barakat, a resident of the city, told Mondoweiss. “He will come to me in 10 days, but my biggest fear is that I’m fleeing into the unknown. I haven’t found a place to set up a tent yet.”

“Some families went to the south of Gaza and then had to return to Gaza City,” Barakat continued. “They could not find a place to set up a tent. Other people pay a monthly rent to landowners to set up their tents on their property. But repeating this process over and over again is a long and hard journey.” 

“If we leave, we have to take everything we have with us,” Barakat pointed out, explaining that Gazans anticipate that if they leave, nothing will remain. He said that the Israeli army will destroy all of Gaza City, just like it did with Rafah. 

“We know that, if we return, it would be to the rubble of our city,” he added.