Stripped naked and made to run from north to south Gaza

Gaza - It happened in early March.

"Take off your clothes, and start running south. If you try to turn back, or stop running, the drone following you will shoot you," these are the words Ahmad Dader, 24, recalls an Israeli soldier commanding him.

Terrified, Dader removed his jeans and sweatshirt and fled his Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood of north Gaza, not stopping until he reached Deir al-Balah, just over 18km away.

"It was like a nightmare. I was in a state of shock. I could feel the drones flying over my head. I was afraid that I was going to die, and I was worried about my family, who I was forced to leave behind," Dader told TRT World.

Unable to look back or take a break, he ran for what he believed was around 20km through the streets of Gaza, crossing the Israeli barrier severing the north from the south.

He eventually reached the Nuseirat refugee camp, where Dader said people tried to stop him to give him some clothes and food, but he did not stop running.

"At that point, I was starting to hallucinate. I now realise that these people were trying to help me, but at the time, I saw them as Israeli soldiers trying to kill me," Dader said.

When Dader, an English-language teacher, had the chance to catch his breath in Deir al-Balah, a relative gave him some clothes to wear and a tent to shelter in.

Worried for family

Dader needed some time to reflect on the events of his sudden forced departure. Recently engaged, Dader was planning to marry his fiance Zizi before the war started, and had taken on a second job as a call-centre agent to cover wedding expenses.

Now his main concern was for his fiance and family, who would have presumed he was missing or killed.

He was eventually able to contact them and recount the horrors of what took place.

The next day, Dader went to walk in the coastal streets of Deir al-Balah. It's an area that had once provided shelter to Palestinian refugees who fled villages in central and southern Palestine when Zionist forces ethnically cleansed Palestine in 1948, during the Nakba.

Dader had remained in the north with his family since the war began in October 2023, despite Israeli forces issuing evacuation orders on October 13 to a million residents.

The Israeli army threat on the ground pushed many Palestinians to abandon their homes towards uncertain futures, without shelter and basic necessities.

Palestinian authorities recorded daily widespread massacres at that time, including killing children and women in prominent locations close to Dader's family home, such as the Baptist Hospital, just 300 metres away, where at least 400 people were killed.

"Our home is a part of who we are. We just could not leave our home with all our memories of the past and our plans for the future. I would rather die in my home than live a life of humiliation and loss far from home," Dader said.

Food insecurity

Northern Gaza was once also considered the food basket for the entire enclave's population. Areas like Bait Lahia and Bait Hanoun were famous for producing and supplying many types of vegetables and fruits to the local market and even for export.

However, Israeli forces bulldozed fields and agricultural lands after the war, decimating local production, so much so the International Food Security Organisation predicted an impending famine.

Dader and his family lived through this, blaming the Israeli forces for the unbearable living conditions.

They purposely targeted key locations, he says, like food stores and markets, as food supplies quickly plummeted.

In Deir al-Balah, Dader saw markets with "vegetables, legumes, and canned food" for "the first time in five months", but said he could not enjoy the experience, knowing his family in the north remained hungry with empty stomachs.

During the first days of the war in October, Dader's father, Mustafa, was in the Shojaiya market looking for food when the market was bombed.

"We were terrified and shocked. We pulled my father from under the rubble. Luckily, he was not badly injured. But many others were killed," Dader said.

After the first month of the war, Dader said his family ran out of food, pushing him to act.

"I couldn't just watch my family starve to death, so I went outside every day hoping to find something to eat. We tried to buy any food, but there was nothing to buy. I searched in abandoned houses and even among the rubble. Most of the time, I wasn't lucky," Dader recalled.

After human food ran out, Palestinians turned to what was left.

"When we had nothing to eat, we turned to animal feed. We bought corn, barley, soybeans and even bird food at very expensive prices and ground them to make bread," Dader said.

He described the quality of the animal feed as "inedible," adding, "it did not look or taste like regular bread. It was very dry and difficult to swallow and had a bitter taste, but it was all the hope we had of staying alive."

After animal feed ran out, thousands of Palestinians faced starvation and empty stomachs as the news of people dying from famine in the north began to haunt Dader.

"I was living in a period of psychological collapse. I was terrified of the idea that my family and I would starve to death," he said.

New shoots

In December, amid the winter rains, a glimmer of hope emerged as some natural plants and grasses grew—becoming the last resort for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who chose to remain in northern Gaza.

"Winter is known to be the season for grazing livestock in Gaza, but this year, grass has become our only hope for us to survive," Dader said.

However, amid the bombs and Israeli aggression, collecting plants and herbs growing in small patches of agricultural land also became a risk.

"Every time I left the house, I was putting my life in danger, but I was doing my best to collect as many plants as I could to provide something for my family to eat," Dader said.

After, they needed to be boiled in large pots, but there was no salt to add flavour. However, he says many of these plants were also unfit for human consumption, causing stomach aches, diarrhoea, and dehydration for the whole family.

"This created a more complex problem as we were suffering from a severe water shortage. Some of the plants even caused skin allergies. At the end of the day, it was all we had against starvation," Dader recalled.

After around three months of war, Israeli authorities allowed small amounts of humanitarian aid into two locations in the north.

However, many Palestinians also returned empty-handed due to rationing.

Dader alleged that the sites were used to target Palestinians, as drones opened fire on people gathering to collect food, killing droves.

"I was risking my life every time I went out to get humanitarian aid. Every time, I saw people around me being shot and bombed and falling, with their blood spilling on the ground and even on the aid boxes. Yes, I was petrified, but I kept going and trying," he said.

"It was my duty to provide something to eat for my family of ten. I told myself that if I were killed, it would be only me, but if I didn't go to get food, then it would be my family members who would die of hunger."

But amid the bleakness, some moments brought the family together.

"One day, I returned home carrying a bag of flour on my shoulder. I still remember the happiness I saw on the faces of my family members. My little brother danced in the street, and my mother did the traditional Zaghrota celebration. We celebrated as if it was Eid," Dader recalled.

With time to reflect, Dader has been caught up in his thoughts about the injustice Palestinians face - reflecting on what gives Israeli forces the right to starve Palestinians. At the same time, the outside world passively watches as his community faces the threat of Israeli bullets and bombs.

Despite the physical distance, his family back in the north are at the forefront of his thoughts, but it is taking a toll.

"I continued to communicate with my family on a daily basis, and every time the call between us ends I feel devastated and depressed. It is very difficult for me to listen to my family complaining of extreme hunger and not to be able to help. I lost my appetite and my ability to enjoy food," he said.