“We live in hell. Safety and life in Gaza have become meaningless,” said Alaa Moein, speaking to the German news outlet DW by phone from Gaza City, where he has sought refuge with his wife and three children.
“Every day, I expect to die with my children. I go to sleep at night thinking I may never wake up again,” said the 35-year-old.
Moein and his family fled from Jabalia town late last week as missiles rained down on northern Gaza during a renewed escalation of the Israeli offensive. The five of them are now crammed into a single room along with other relatives.
In addition to the constant threat to their lives, Moein’s family is also struggling to find anything to eat. “We have no bread or food. We eat whatever we can find, without even knowing if it’s safe. We rely on herbs and cook them. Everything is expensive. I’ve spent all my savings on food,” Moein said.
Moein’s experience of multiple displacements and enduring hunger is tragically common across Gaza, home to some 2.1 million people.
Farmer Naim Shafi’i and his family have again been forced to flee their home on the outskirts of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. They are now living in a tent pitched by the roadside in Gaza City.
“The shelling hasn’t stopped in the north. It’s everywhere,” the 39-year-old told DW by phone.
Since Israel launched its war against Hamas in 2023, foreign journalists have not been allowed into Gaza. “I had a bag of flour, and I brought it with me. That was the most important thing I could take from Beit Lahia,” Shafi’i said.
“I don’t know how long we can go on like this. We’re just trying to survive.”
During a temporary ceasefire in January, Shafi’i returned to Beit Lahia and managed to plant a few vegetables beside the bombed-out building his family had been sheltering in. That garden is now gone too.
“Every day there are reports of a possible ceasefire, and the next morning all we see is bombing, destruction, and death. I don’t know where we’ll go next,” he said.
On Sunday, Israel announced that a limited quantity of humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza, partially lifting an 11-week blockade that has left one in five people facing starvation.
The blockade, according to Israel, is part of its “maximum pressure” strategy aimed at toppling Hamas and securing the release of 58 hostages still held by the militant group.
On Monday, five UN aid trucks crossed into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to the COGAT unit of Israel’s Defence Ministry, which oversees Gaza access.
The UN confirmed that a total of nine aid trucks were cleared for entry. However, it was too dangerous to continue distribution late at night, and the trucks were halted.
“Nine trucks are a drop in the ocean compared to what’s urgently needed,” said UN relief chief Tom Fletcher in a statement on Monday, calling for a significant scale-up in aid access.
News of the arrival of a “basic quantity of food” has spread quickly across Gaza. “It’s good that something is coming, but we haven’t seen any change on the ground yet,” Raed al-Athamna told DW from Gaza City, where he and his extended family are sheltering.
While allowing in limited aid, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has pressed ahead with its ground assault. On Sunday, the IDF announced that troops were operating across multiple areas of the “northern and southern Gaza Strip” under a new military campaign code-named Operation Gideon.
In the past week, the Israeli military has issued widespread evacuation warnings for areas including Khan Younis—Gaza’s second-largest city—Rafah in the south, and several districts in northern Gaza.
Israel says the warnings are intended to move civilians out of harm’s way.
Yet even before the latest orders for Khan Younis, more than two-thirds of Gaza’s territory was already under evacuation orders or designated as Israeli military zones, according to the United Nations.
UN officials have previously warned that the mass internal displacement of civilians could amount to a war crime.
The ongoing siege has drawn international criticism. Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani—whose nation has acted as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas—accused Israel of “irresponsible, aggressive behaviour that undermines any potential for peace.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a joint statement on Monday warning that “we will not stand by,” and threatened “further concrete actions” if Israel continued to obstruct aid deliveries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Tuesday saying: “This is a war of civilisation versus barbarism. Israel will defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”
Back in Gaza City, Raed al-Athamna and his family are among thousands who have fled Beit Hanoun, a town near the Israeli border. It is the second time they have been displaced since the war began.
Their nights are now spent shifting from one corner of their apartment to another in search of safety.
“We hear the F16s bombing constantly. Sometimes they strike nearby, and the ground shakes,” al-Athamna told DW on Monday. “The nights are the worst. We just hope to make it to morning.”
The family is worn out from the relentless hunt for food and essentials.
“We haven’t had bread for eight days,” he said. “We had one meal of lentils yesterday, but the children keep asking me for more food—they’re always hungry.”
He said more and more people were arriving in Gaza City, with tents now popping up across the area.
“People simply don’t know where else to go,” he said.
(With inputs from dw.com)
