Today's Edition
Hiba Yazbek and Ameera Harouda (GAZA)
An area in the Gaza Strip that Israel has designated as a humanitarian zone and has ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians to go to has become an overcrowded “hell,” where food and water are scarce and safety is not guaranteed, according to some of the displaced Palestinians there.
“The truth is that this area is anything but humanitarian,” said Kamel Mohammed, a 36-year-old sheltering in a tent with nine family members. He added, “Our life in these camps is like hell.”
Mohammed described the humanitarian zone, a once-vacant strip of coastal land known as Muwasi, as a “barren sand desert” crammed with displaced families that offers “no sense of safety.” The high cost of materials and the lack of assistance have forced many families to share tents, he said.
“A tent that used to accommodate four to seven people now houses 15 to 17 people from two or more families,” he said.
Mohammed listed the privations people in Muwasi face: “no drinkable water, no healthy food,” and only “primitive bathrooms.” The heat is scorching under the sun, with no trees to provide shade, and, because the area is on the shore, it becomes windy and chilly at night. “We do not have the means for a decent life,” Mohammed said.
The Israeli military has issued a string of evacuation orders in recent weeks, uprooting tens of thousands of people in various parts of Gaza, and at Israel’s urging, many of them have moved into the Muwasi humanitarian zone. The Israeli military has characterised it as safer than other parts of Gaza.
Israel has adjusted the borders of the humanitarian zone several times, shrinking the area by more than a fifth last month. Maps and analysis of satellite imagery show that the zone is crammed with people and often hit by airstrikes.
On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered another section of the zone to be evacuated because it was planning to fight in the area.
Israel has previously mounted attacks inside the zone, including one strike on the outskirts of the southern city of Khan Younis last month.
“It is no longer a safe area,” said Nisreen Joudeh, 37, a mother of four who has been sheltering in the humanitarian zone for the last few months. Palestinians from other parts of Khan Younis, where the Israeli military said that it was operating over the weekend, have also been fleeing to the humanitarian zone in recent days, Joudeh said.
Palestinians from other parts of Khan Younis, where the Israeli military said that it was operating over the weekend, have also been fleeing to the humanitarian zone in recent days.
