'We keep running from death, but it's everywhere': Palestinians in Rafah

Mohammed Shafiq and his 30-member extended family have been displaced ten times in seven months. And each time, they had hoped this would be the last.

On Tuesday, the family reached Deir al Balah in central Gaza after they were forced to flee for the 10th time as the Israeli military prepared to launch its planned ground invasion of Rafah, carrying out overnight airstrikes on the besieged city on the border with Egypt.

He can’t take the pain anymore.

“I can’t continue searching for (safe) places. It’s dehumanising and unbearable how we're being treated,” Shafiq, in his 30s, tells TRT World.

“It would be better for me to be killed in my own house (than somewhere else).”

On Monday, Rafah residents woke up to Israel airdropping leaflets and threatening through the radio to evacuate to so-called safe zones in southern Gaza, including the Al Mwasi area in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.

By evening, there were hopes that the Israeli invasion could be avoided after the Hamas resistance group announced on Monday evening that it had accepted a ceasefire plan mediated by Egypt and Qatar.

Rafah residents “celebrated” the news on the streets – people danced, cheered, and fired in the air. Some cried in joy, others chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great).

By night, Israeli bombs killed several Palestinians – and all hopes of a ceasefire.

Fear and desperation were the overwhelming emotions running through the minds of Palestinians as Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah and soldiers seized a key crossing to Egypt on Tuesday– tell-tale signs of what was to come soon.

Since Monday, thousands of people have fled Rafah - some in cars, others on foot – carrying children and the infirm and holding onto their meagre possessions.

Before the latest Israeli evacuation order, Rafah was home to more than 1.3 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of Gaza, which has been reduced to a wasteland of twisted metal and concrete rubble in seven months of Israeli bombardment and ground offensive.

Close to 35,000 Palestinians – most of them women and children – have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, the day the Zionist Israeli state’s invincibility was shattered by Hamas in an unprecedented operation.

‘A hell on earth’

On Tuesday, the UN human rights office said there are "strong indications" that Israel's forced displacement of people from Rafah is "being conducted in violation of international law".

For people like Mohammed Shafiq, it has been a pattern of Israeli aggression.

“I am now displaced for the 10th time. I’ve sought refuge in central Gaza, Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, and also other areas,” he says.

“These places are designated as ‘safe zones, but where is safety when they’re being continuously targeted?...The fact that people are searching for safety in death zones is ridiculous. Either the war stops or the entire full people will be wiped out.”

An average of 20 people have been killed or wounded daily in Rafah due to relentless Israeli bombardment over the last few weeks. At least 22 people, including eight children, were killed in deadly airstrikes that targeted 11 homes across the area on Monday.

Since Monday, thousands of people have been arriving in the "safe" zones in central Gaza and Deir al Balah. However, these places haven’t been spared by Israel, as the Al-Zwayda area and Salah Al-Deen Street, north and east of Deir al Balah, have faced heavy bombardment.

Israeli airstrikes have also flattened homes in Al Nusairat, Al Buraij, and Al Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza, killing and wounding several people over the last week.

With Israel “taking operational control” of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the main entry for humanitarian aid to Gaza and evacuation of people to safety, nearly two million people trapped in Gaza face hunger and death.

Also, prices have skyrocketed over the last week due to the anticipated Rafah invasion. For instance, a kg of sugar that cost $2 a week ago is now being sold for $13.

Shafiq, however, knows it is just the beginning of another nightmare.

“My house was destroyed, my business has collapsed, and my life has turned upside down since the outbreak of the war. My children are panicked, and so are my wife and me…Our life is nothing but torture. It’s literally hell,” he says, choking on his words.

‘Why are they attacking us?’

The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will reach unprecedented levels if Israel goes ahead with its planned invasion of Rafah.

"From the humanitarian perspective, no credible humanitarian plan for an attack on Rafah exists," the AFP news agency quoted Bushra Khalidi, advocacy director for Oxfam in the Palestinian territories, as saying.

Many among those who fled Rafah say that they arrived in the Israel-designated ‘safe zones’ only to find them packed with tents of people displaced from other areas.

According to reports, the safe zones currently shelter an estimated 250,000 people, many of those already displaced from other areas in Gaza.

As Mahmoud Abu Khdair, 33, and his wife Sahar prepare to flee again with their two children – a three-year-old girl and a nine-month-old boy – the only question they have is: “Why are they attacking us? We're just civilians.”

Displaced multiple times in the past seven months, Abu Khdair has helplessly watched his boy suffer from malnutrition due to a lack of food. He himself has lost about 20 kgs, unable to afford the costly food in the besieged enclave.

Now, he has to contend once again with the tough task of finding a place to stay.

“Being displaced all over again and again breaks my heart. Places are too overcrowded, so finding a place or a tent is cumbersome,” he tells TRT World. “People have to understand that tents are uninhabitable. They’re too hot in the day hours and too cold in the night.”

In Deir al Balah, about 18 km from Rafah, 30-year-old Om Ali Jadallah and her three children wonder if the Israeli army will also turn their tanks and rifles at them.

“Even though Deir al Balah hasn’t been invaded, the nonstop bombardment at the eastern outskirts is terrifying. We can clearly hear gunfire and tank cannons in the night,” says Om Ali, who fled from her house in the Al Tuffah Neighbourhood in North Gaza.

“We are always afraid of a ground invasion here. If this happens, we must wait for our turn to be killed. Israel is threatening to invade every place in Gaza, which means the complete devastation of human existence in Gaza.”

Seven months into Israel’s war, “death” has now become part of casual banter for Palestinians.

Abu Khdair’s young wife, Sahar, puts the issue in perspective with a brutally honest view of what is happening in their lives.

"We've been displaced many times. Now, we have to go to another place. Every time is a challenge for us,” she says.

“We keep running from death, but it's everywhere.”