This article first appeared on our partner site, Independent Arabia
Shaimaa believes it is too early to think about the Israeli plan to take over Gaza City. But she quickly changes her mind.
“Since the start of the war, the [Israeli] army has made no secret of its plans for Gaza, and it has unfortunately been implementing those plans with firepower. It’s not too early to prepare for a catastrophe.”
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to occupy Gaza City. According to Israel’s Channel 14, the plan will play out in three phases: firstly, allowing increased humanitarian aid to enter Gaza City, followed by the relocation of its residents to centralised camps in the south of the Gaza Strip, and finally, a full blockade of the city, which will be placed under the control of the military.
As soon as the cabinet approved the plan, the general mood in Gaza shifted, and the population became more pessimistic than ever. Residents anxiously keep up with the details of the planned takeover of the city, filled with dread for what they believe lies ahead: immense destruction, innumerable deaths and injuries, and devastating physical and human costs.
Sitting outside her tent in Gaza City, Shaimaa is thinking about the occupation’s plans. She tells Independent Arabia: “I am trying to prepare myself for a bleak future, but my brain isn’t working right now. I don’t know what to do. All I can think about now is making plans for how my family will live if the military operation begins.”
Shaimaa is not well versed in politics, nor can she understand military strategy, but she has read the Israeli plan. “I’m trying to understand what might happen to us. Nothing scares me more than the order to forcibly remove all of the residents of the city and transport them to the south. That is a horror we cannot bear.”
Death is kinder
On 13 October 2023, Israel issued its first evacuation orders to the residents of Gaza City, telling them to move south. At the time, Shaimaa complied with the orders, leaving her house to move to the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone.
Life in al-Mawasi was very difficult for Shaimaa. She recalls briefly: “We lost our shelter and lived in humiliating conditions inside the tent. We had no water, no power, no food and no life – only terror and fear. That was a very rough experience, and the IDF is now preparing us mentally for this by destroying our morale.”
In any case, Shaimaa refuses to relive the experience of displacement. She explains that she would prefer to die in Gaza City than die in the south of the strip. She is preparing to relocate inside the city that the IDF plans on occupying, noting that she will stay put, even at the cost of living under occupation. To her, that is better than being displaced again.
With around 1.2 million residents, Gaza City is considered Gaza’s most densely populated area. While Tel Aviv plans to relocate the city’s residents to al-Mawasi, Palestinians are busy making their own plans in anticipation of the “catastrophe” that is to come.
Waseem has come to terms with the idea of moving south to survive. He has already begun making arrangements for a shelter in southern Gaza, and is working around the clock to get it set up. “Israel is going ahead with its war plans for Gaza, and as the sole provider of a family of 13, I have to protect them,” he says.
Waseem has set up three tents on a plot of land in the south of Gaza, with a separate toilet, a water tank, and some basic necessities. “I hesitated before making this decision, but I concluded in the end that complying with Israeli orders might save my family’s life,” he explains.
He knows displacement will be difficult, and that it will mean a far more primitive way of life than what he is used to. But he thinks that it is a matter of life or death, and that Israel will show no mercy on anyone who does not leave. If he stays, he could risk being killed or besieged.
Waseem decided to make these preparations when he learnt that Israel was planning to impose another siege on Gaza, meaning famine would return. His children are already suffering from acute malnutrition, he adds, and he doesn’t want to watch them die in front of his eyes for lack of food. He believes the IDF will allow goods into the humanitarian zone, so he has accepted the move.
Hanada slapped her face when she learnt of the impending occupation of Gaza City. “Many negative emotions began closing in on me,” she says, “This was a shocking decision, especially after waiting so long for a ceasefire. The failure to reach a truce has brought an unfathomable catastrophe upon us.”
A doorway to more suffering
Hanadi thinks the reoccupation of Gaza will pave the way towards an escalation of “genocide.” She says that Palestinians cannot afford the cost of displacement. While she sees the decision to flee as an individual choice, she cannot imagine leaving. Her first experience of displacement was so bad that she refuses to consider going through it all again.
Hanadi believes the best option is to stay in Gaza. She thinks if people remain and refuse to comply with the evacuation orders, it will put a stop to Israel’s plans of destroying the enclave and achieving their stated aim of reoccupying Gaza.
If Israel sets the planned occupation of Gaza in motion, then the next ground operation will surely be an immense humanitarian disaster, warns Sharif. “We can no longer muster the energy to face the dreadful future awaiting us,” he says, “The world should act before the soldiers exterminate us. We are living in fear and anguish every day.”
“We are the first victims. Expanding the Israeli ground offensive will lead to even more death and destruction. Where should we go if Tel Aviv orders us to evacuate? I was shocked when I read that the deadline for evacuating Gaza City is the coming 7th of October. It was an unexpected shock.”
Netanyahu has set 7 October as the deadline to evacuate Gaza City completely of its residents. After that date, Israel is set to impose a siege on Hamas operatives who remain inside the city. According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the Gaza occupation operation will last between four to five months, and will be carried out by six military units.
As for Tayseer, he tells Independent Arabia: “The army has set the deadline of 7 October in the hope that it will make the people of Gaza forget the 2023 attacks, and that this will become the anniversary of our new Nakba, because it will take from us the whole of Gaza City, which is a piece of our hearts.”
“The idea of Gaza City being destroyed before our eyes is terrifying. Nothing that we have endured can compare to what is coming. We are facing the planned extermination, elimination and burial of our very existence, history and future. We are in the midst of an uprooting, and any step we take to avoid the catastrophe will be hard.”
The catastrophe will be brutal as the IDF is coming to destroy and level the place, says Tayseer. When it leaves, “we will have no street to walk on, and no building to defend”, he predicts, imploring Hamas leaders to save Gaza before it is too late, announce the “zero hour” for exit, and demand the deployment of Arab and international forces and stop the “bulldozer” of destruction.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office of the Hamas-led administration in Gaza, warns “the occupation of Gaza City endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of its residents, who will face hunger, disease and the collapse of remaining health facilities. This means we are facing the most gruesome humanitarian and human rights disaster.”
“Israel is trying to change the consciousness of Gazans by linking the occupation of Gaza with the anniversary of the ‘al-Aqsa Flood’ operation,” he adds. “But Palestinians are demonstrating their determination and resolve to not leave their land and to thwart Israel’s plan.”
Reviewed by Tooba Khokhar
