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- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News
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The inhabitants of Gaza are shocked by Israel's decision to “take control” of the largest city in the strip.
Although the announcement of the Israeli security cabinet about Gaza City was not a surprise, some clung to the hope of a “miracle” that would fought them from what they consider a new nightmare.
Now, they fear that they will have to move back at a time when hunger and two years of war have taken their forces, to the point that many say they will not flee again south.
Many Gazatis have been furious with both Israel and Hamas, whom they accuse of sacrificing them in a lost battle.
A woman named Sabrine Mahmoud said she will not leave her home under any circumstances.
“We will not live another displacement. We left the city of Gaza for a whole year and we support the worst humiliation. We will not repeat that error.”
“That they destroy the house on our heads,” he concluded.
Mohammed Imran said that the fact that Israel has changed the term “occupation” for “control” does not mean much.
“The result is the same, destruction and displacement,” he told the BBC from Jan Yunis. “We have nothing more than God,” he said and added that those who are in power in Gaza “lost their heads.”
Image source, Reuters
Ehab al-Helou, activist and influencer, also criticized Hamas:
“I swear by God that Hamas's leaders live in a world of science fiction. Have mercy on the people. Who are you to decide to sacrifice us?” He said.
The BBC Arab service has collected testimonies in Gaza City through independent journalists on the field.
A woman described that people are “exhausted” and said that Israel's plans are “a death sentence.”
“I think that the entire population of Gaza will die, either for bombings or hunger.”
A man, speaking from a dusty street in which the buildings have been replaced by tents, said: “Civilians have nothing to do with Hamas.”
“Where are we going? Do we throw ourselves into the sea?”
Aseel Ghaben, a journalist in Ciudad de Gaza said that the announcement of the Israel Security Cabinet was a change of drastic mood for the inhabitants of the place.
According to Ghaben, this Thursday the Israeli army had allowed the entry of trucks with humanitarian aid to the city, which had produced a slight relief for the thousands of people in a state of malnutrition.
Now, the population faces fear again the “humiliation” of having to leave their home and start a new life, surely in a shelter or in a tent in an unknown place.
“Some people I know say they prefer to die in their homes with dignity than leading a humiliating life,” Ghaben describes.
In the words of Abu Mustafa, a Gazatí, the Israelis “turned the evacuation into a game.”
“It is a crime against all humanity to seize someone's lands, expel it and leave it as if I had been born today,” Mustafa said and said he will stay in Gaza City because he has no where he is not going.
Um Saadi, another woman, told a journalist to collect testimonies for the BBC who has evacuated 15 times so far from war.
Saadi complains, in addition, that he has no food or drink or medications to give them his children, while Hamas's officers do.
“How long are we going to continue living in these conditions?” He asks, and adds: “In entering them hostages,” in reference to the Israelis who remain in the hands of Hamas and that are one of the reasons that Israel quotes to extend their offensive in Gaza.
Maghzouza Saada, another Gazatí woman, says: “I am old. How am I going to move? How am I going to walk? How am I going?”
“The South is not safe, Ciudad de Gaza is not sure, the north is not safe. Where are we going? Do we throw ourselves into the sea?”
Gaza City
Before the war, Ciudad de Gaza housed in its less than 48 km² about 775,000 people, from a total population of 2.1 million throughout the strip. It is one of the most densely populated places in the world.
Located in northern Gaza, it was one of the first areas attacked by the Israeli army at the beginning of the conflict and the one that has suffered the greatest destruction, according to satellite data analyzed by experts from the Cuny Graduate Center and the State University of Oregon
It houses the Al-Shifa hospital, which was previously the largest medical center in Gaza, but was practically destroyed by Israeli forces last year. Now partially works.
Israeli media estimate that approximately one million people currently live in Ciudad de Gaza and must move south. It is difficult to confirm the exact figure, since the Israeli government does not allow international media, including BBC, freely enter Gaza to inform.
Image source, Reuters
Many residents now live in tents after having lost their homes for Israeli bombings.
Much of the city is under evacuation orders, although it has not yet been designated as “dangerous combat zone” by the Israel Defense forces (IDF), unlike most other areas of the strip.
That could change soon, with the entry into force of the new plans approved by the Israel Security Cabinet.
In October 2023, many residents fled south after receiving evacuation orders from the IDF. A high fire in January 2025 caused a massive return, but much of the city was uninhabitable and many had to settle in temporary shelters.
Image source, Reuters
After the rupture of cessation to the fire by Israel in March, people from the north of the strip – where the neighborhoods were practically razed – sought refuge in Ciudad de Gaza.
Now, those same communities, as well as those who still live in the buildings that remain standing, will have to flee again.
The new plan approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks that Israeli forces take control of Gaza City for the first time in this conflict.
Israel says it controls 75% of the strip, while the UN estimates that 86% of the territory is in militarized areas or under evacuation orders.
Further south, there are still areas in the central part of the strip, along the Mediterranean coast, which Israel does not occupy, according to the UN.
These include refugee camps, where he currently lives a large part of the population of Gaza after the destruction of their homes by the Israeli offensive.
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