WHILE Gaza City is living through one of its harshest phases, as the ongoing Israeli military assault targets its neighbourhoods and drives its residents into forced displacement, hundreds of thousands insist on staying, clinging to their city and holding onto hope that they can foil Israel’s plans to destroy it.
According to the Government Media Office, about 900,000 Palestinians remain trapped inside the city, facing severe shortages of water and food, and relentless bombardment that threatens their lives at every moment.
Still, they insist on staying, believing that their presence is a barrier against Israel’s colonial schemes.
Many Gaza residents refuse to leave their homes despite the intensifying bombardment, while others want to flee to the central or southern areas but are unable to afford the transportation costs, which exceed US$3,000.
Israel, meanwhile, continues to pressure the remaining residents, claiming their numbers are far fewer, while vowing to keep destroying and eventually controlling the city.
Local sources say population density is now concentrated in the southern part of al-Shati refugee camp and the al-Nafaq neighbourhood, as well as the al-Sahaba, al-Shaabiya, and al-Samer areas, and near the Saraya intersection.
People are also gathered on the edges of Tel Al-Hawa and al-Shati, while tanks advance into Sheikh Radwan and al-Nasr.
In Tel Al-Hawa, Abdullah Al-Bitar was hiding with 16 members of his family on the ground floor of a building near the Jordanian Hospital when missiles suddenly struck the upper floors.
He said: ‘We crawled out from under the rubble through the dust, calling for our children and wives.
‘We sought shelter in the Jordanian Hospital, but its teams had stopped medical work. We remained trapped for 24 hours with 22 other families until we were evacuated at night to Nuseirat.’
On the other side of the city, fate did not spare Marwan al-Ashi, 67, and his son Hani, 38. They were preparing to evacuate but were struck by a drone while trying to rescue injured neighbours.
Salem al-Ashi, another son, said: ‘My father chose to stay one more day with my sister, and Hani went back to secure his shops. The planes targeted them before they could join us in the central area.’
Families who remain face hardship as severe as the bombing. Desalination plants have been destroyed or relocated south, water trucks have disappeared, and municipal lines have been cut. Residents walk long distances for a single gallon of water.
Markets are nearly paralysed, there is limited activity in al-Shati market, and some movement in al-Saraya and al-Sahaba markets. But basic necessities are now beyond the reach of many.
Halima Al-Ashi, an elderly woman trapped in al-Nasr neighbourhood, said: ‘The situation is unbearable, the smell of death is everywhere. Drones fire at anything that moves.
‘I cannot walk, and we cannot afford to leave. Most who left sold their furniture or phones. We are stuck between death and helplessness.’
Bombardment does not stop, day or night. Mohammed Maqdad, who insists on staying in the northwest of the city, describes the situation: ‘Airstrikes have turned night into day. Every night is worse than the one before.
‘I saw buildings collapse on their residents without warning. We lost contact with neighbours who went out to get a few things before evacuating and never came back.’
Ambulance and civil defence crews are paralysed by the intensity of the bombing and the dangers of reaching besieged areas.
Civil Defence said in a statement that they are leaving bodies under the rubble due to the lack of heavy equipment. ‘We receive distress calls from al-Shati camp, Sheikh Radwan, and al-Jalaa Street, but we cannot intervene.
‘The hardest thing we faced was the strike on the overcrowded al-Shawa building near the al-Samer intersection, which left martyrs, wounded, and a massive fire.’
Israel forced residents of entire neighbourhoods like Tel Al-Hawa to flee under bombardment and ‘fire belts’.
Still, many families remain in al-Sabra, al-Daraj, and around the fishermen’s port, living in hope of either a ceasefire or finding a safe way out.
For Abeer Hassan, looking after her autistic son, Abdallah, has been perilous amid Israeli bombardment, displacement.
For children with autism, survival brings profound suffering, as Israel’s siege and restrictions make it extremely difficult for families.
Amid relentless forced Palestinian displacement in Gaza under intense Israeli bombardment, taking care of children with special needs becomes even more perilous.
Abeer Hassan, looking after her autistic son, Abdallah, in Deir el-Balah, says the constant Israeli explosions terrify him.
‘As the people started fleeing the area, we were also urged to leave,’ Hassan said.
‘Abdallah used to watch cars filled with displaced families fleeing. He would come back to the tent very tense and nervous, and using sign language,’ she added.
Hassan explained that they first reached a displaced camp called Ameera, which was full and had no space for their tent.
‘Later, they told us to seek a place near Salah al-Din Street, despite the danger. My daughters and I were crying and Abdallah was getting tense and started making weird sounds. The scorching heat is too much and we don’t know where to go,’ she said.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, the army has issued several forced evacuation orders for Palestinians living in the besieged enclave, often telling them to move to the southern al-Mawasi area, which has been designated a so-called ‘safe zone’.
However, al-Mawasi has also come under repeated attack by Israel, as has the exodus of Palestinians fleeing Gaza City to an unknown fate further south.
For Abdallah, the never-ending orders and sounds of bombardments mean he spends most of the time roaming the streets and has developed a new habit of pulling his hair.
His family had to cut his hair short to stop him tearing at it.
‘I began giving him prescribed sleeping pills again, to stop him from going outside during the heat. There is nothing else I can do to help him.
‘I discovered that my mobile phone was broken two days before we were displaced; my phone was the only means to keep him calm with mobile games and videos,’ Hassan explained.
‘We were all under immense pressure… young and old. At one point, I asked God to take our lives together so Abdallah wouldn’t be alone. Not everything he needs is available here,’ she pleaded.
- Resistance Movement Hamas has issued a ‘warning’ that the lives of two captives held in Gaza City are in danger as Israeli tanks push deeper inside several neighbourhoods of the besieged urban centre, where tens of thousands of Palestinians are trapped by Israel’s ground invasion and bombardment.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group, said on Sunday that contact has been lost with fighters holding Omri Miran and Matan Angrest after ‘brutal military operations and violent targeting in the Sabra and Tal al-Hawa neighbourhoods during the last 48 hours’.
‘The lives of the two captives are in real danger, and the occupation forces must immediately withdraw to the south of Road 8 and halt aerial sorties for 24 hours starting from 18:00 this evening (15:00 GMT), until an attempt is made to extract the two prisoners,’ it said.
Hamas released a ‘farewell picture’ of Israeli captives in Gaza this month in another attempt to stop the Israeli army as it systematically destroys Gaza City and displaces hundreds of thousands of starving Palestinians once again.
Israel said 48 captives remain in Gaza, 20 of whom are alive. But the country has refused to stop the war despite being increasingly accused of committing genocide and as Israeli families call and protest for a comprehensive deal to end the war and bring back all captives.
Their pleas have not been heeded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, and relatives and supporters are blaming the government for their prolonged captivity.
The political wing of Hamas said in a statement earlier on Sunday that the group has not received any new ceasefire or peace proposals from mediators Qatar and Egypt, even as United States President Donald Trump continues to predict an imminent ceasefire, – which he has done several times in recent weeks.
The group confirmed that negotiations remain halted after Israel tried to assassinate top Hamas leaders in Doha on September 9th as they gathered to review a new ceasefire proposal presented by Trump.
But Hamas said it is ‘ready to study any proposal from the brother mediators with positivity and responsibility, in a manner that preserves the national rights of our people’.
Israeli ministers said on Sunday that they oppose a 21-point plan presented by Trump and any other deal that would put an end to the war before eliminating Hamas.
In a post on social media, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: ‘Mr Prime Minister (Netanyahu), you have no mandate to end the war without a decisive defeat of Hamas.’
While right-wing Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would ‘never agree to a Palestinian state – even if it is difficult, even if it has a price, and even if it takes time’.