MAGAZINE
8 HOURS AGO
‘When will the world fall?’ — Dispatches from Rafah
Israel’s recent evacuation order and news of a potential ceasefire have evoked fear and hope in the southern Gaza city that houses more than a million displaced Palestinians. Here’s what people there are saying.
Mariam Al Khateeb
MARIAM AL KHATEEB
A displaced Palestinian boy looks out a tent in Rafah in southern Gaza as people prepare to leave following an evacuation order by the Israeli army on May 6, 2024 (AFP).
AFP
A displaced Palestinian boy looks out a tent in Rafah in southern Gaza as people prepare to leave following an evacuation order by the Israeli army on May 6, 2024 (AFP).
I recently left Gaza to seek safety in Egypt. As I works to fundraise enough money for my family to join me, I have been speaking to friends and family members in Gaza.
Here’s what they’re telling me, after Israel ordered the evaluation of some neighborhoods in Rafah as it prepares to mount its invasion, and amid talks of Hamas accepting a potential ceasefire.
“Oh God, the scenes are being repeated again. People are fleeing without knowing where their friends are. They are crying. You cannot even find the Rafah tent, the gateway to Gaza for aid and food to enter. When we look ahead, we find that famine will return, and the few medical supplies will be cut off, and a million and a half people in Rafah do not know where to go. All of Gaza is a wasteland. Destruction – when will the world fall, when?
And displacement to where? Where is the safe place? How did this land narrow us down? How should I carry my things? How can I tell my children – who are dancing after hearing about the ceasefire – that we will not return to the north and will be left here? How will I make my children homeless now? Above the war is another war.”
-Nour, 43 years old, displaced in Rafah
“People rejoice a little in the streets because of the news, but people rejoice with caution and fear because it is possible that in a moment this news will turn into blood.”
-My mother Amal Abu Qambaz, 48, displaced in Deir Al Balah
“Imagine sleeping in a tent on the harsh streets, surrounded by the harsh reality of war. Fifteen souls gathered together, sharing this fragile shelter. We were about to return north soon, to be reunited with my father.
The joy of that moment was intense. I could hardly sleep, knowing that our dream was about to come true. But the war had other plans. The war intervened and killed my people and my hopes, and now I am preparing myself for displacement again with a heart filled with panic.”
– Yousef, 10, displaced in Rafah
“Rafah is the last stone in all of Gaza, the only place that nourishes the enclave after more than 200 days of war. However, if Rafah is entered, Rafah will turn into rubble like the rest of the areas of Gaza, and every corner will be annihilated.”
-Momen, 23 years old, displaced in Deir Al Balah
“From here, Gaza will turn into a literal genocide zone, uninhabitable and a cemetery for the population, and the most horrific and heinous methods of war, death and genocide will be practiced on the world while the world is looking at us.”
-My brother Zain Al-Abidin, 16 years old. He also said the price of sugar has risen from $10 to $18 per kilo overnight after Israel issued evacuation orders to people in Rafah.
“I cry and do not know what is happening here. I have no energy to start a new phase of displacement. What is happening is beyond my energy and the energy of everyone else.”
-Aya, 24 years old, displaced in Rafah
Gaza is the gateway
Today, while I was talking to my friend, she told me that she was unable to carry her house inside her bag in northern Gaza, and now she will not be able to carry the tent inside her bag in Rafah.
REUTERS
People flee the eastern parts of Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating Palestinian civilians ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city May 6, 2024 (REUTERS/Hatem Khaled).
I know the truth about these feelings. I know what displacement, fear, and hardened blood are like. I was displaced from my family to Rafah, and now people are being displaced from Rafah.
There are 400,000 children in Rafah and a million and a half displaced Palestinians cannot find shelter. Al-Najjar Hospital has been threatened with evacuation.
It is the only hospital that operates in Rafah and receives births and performs some operations. Closing the crossings to Gaza will prevent the entry of humanitarian aid, including food, drink, and medical supplies to the entire enclave.
This means it will prevent the entry of food into Deir al Balah, Nuseirat, and Khan Younis, and the issue varies from high prices to another famine.
‘Mad and helpless’
About my feelings while I am here and my family is being displaced and killed in Gaza. I will become mad and helpless and it will eat away at my soul.
OTHERS
Student Mariam Al Khateeb after crossing into Egypt from Gaza (photo courtesy of Mariam Al Khateeb).
Here I watch people hear the news of death. People are walking freely here while my family, my people and my city are under genocide.
Here is the occupying state, once again surpassing the world and proving that it has the upper hand in murder and crime, and does not care about anyone and is taking the decision alone at the expense of the lives of hundreds of thousands in the city of Rafah.
Rafah may be on the verge of a new massacre if the occupation forces enter the city, which houses 1.5 million Palestinians. “God is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.”
SOURCE: TRT WORLD
Mariam Al Khateeb
Mariam Al Khateeb
Mariam Al Khateeb is a former medical student in Gaza. She is a member of We Are Not Numbers, a project to help young adults in Gaza share their narratives with the Western world and bust stereotypes about Palestinians.
