“I’m back in a tent, starting from scratch — again”: Over a quarter of Gaza’s population forcibly re-displaced since ceasefire broken
More than 1 in 4 people in Gaza have been forcibly re-displaced since the breakdown of the ceasefire on March 18, according to the latest figures from UNOCHA, including more than 202,000 people since mid-May. Among them are staff members at our partner organisation who had to suddenly abandon their operations and flee from their headquarters and homes after being issued with forced displacement orders by the Israeli military a few days ago.
With 82% of the territory either under the control of the Israeli military or covered by mass forced displacement orders, displaced people are being forced to seek refuge in an ever-shrinking area of land, in hugely overcrowded shelters and camps. Yet nowhere in Gaza is safe: earlier this week four people were killed after an airstrike hit tents in the Al-Mawasi area, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering.
The displaced humanitarian workers at Alianza por la Solidaridad/ActionAid’s partner organisation described their deep despair at losing everything yet again, having already been forced to flee on multiple occasions, some as many as 12 times.
One said: “Each time we try to start over, we find ourselves back in the same pain–as if exhaustion is our destiny. I’ve been displaced six times. Each time is harder than the last…I’m mentally exhausted. My house was destroyed, so I returned to [my home city], repaired a small room in my parents’ home, slowly rebuilt my life, bought some essentials, and felt a glimpse of joy. Today? I’m back in a tent, starting from scratch – again.”
Another told ActionAid: “We fled under heavy bombardment, my heart pounding in fear for my children. I gathered what little I could. It was one of the hardest displacements–we barely escaped with our lives as strikes hit all around us. My children remain traumatized–they don’t sleep, they flinch at every sound. Their psychological state is collapsing, and I feel helpless.”
With no shelter items allowed to enter Gaza for more than three months, displaced people are having to make do with whatever they can find and living conditions are unbearable. Many people are crowded into flimsy tents on the beach, leaving women and girls in particular struggling with the total lack of privacy and safety.
One displaced worker said: “Everytime we try to gather our dignity, search for a bit of peace, try to live a normal life…And suddenly, we’re pulled back into the same cycle: a tent, suffocating heat, sand everywhere, insects, no comfort, no privacy. I’ve been displaced more than eight times. Our lives have become a suitcase.”
At the same time as facing constant danger and inhumane conditions, people in Gaza continue to experience acute hunger – and the situation is worsening by day. After three months of an almost total blockade on any aid or goods entering Gaza, there is barely any food left in the markets, and any items that are available are unaffordable.
Tasneem, who works with ActionAid’s partner organisation the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), said: “I usually find nothing in the market…sometimes there are a few spoiled vegetables. But even those spoiled vegetables are very expensive.
“We often say to one another, do you eat and still feel hungry? That’s because our food is no longer nutritious. We haven’t seen fruit, meat, chicken, milk, eggs or any healthy food in over three months.”
People desperate for food now face the dire dilemma of going hungry or risking their lives trying to access aid distributed by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has not provided food in two days following a week of deadly chaos in which dozens of people were killed trying to access its sites. Let us be clear: there is nothing humanitarian or even humane about the operation run by this group. Far from meeting the needs of a starving people, it is being used to control and displace them.
The world must insist that this dangerous experiment has failed and act now to ensure that aid is allowed in and distributed through the existing, principled UN-led system immediately. Palestinians in Gaza are starving; there is no more time to waste. States can and must do much more to secure a permanent ceasefire now and pressure the Israeli authorities to let aid in at scale, in order to halt famine in its tracks.
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Spokespeople are available for interviews. Please contact:
Stephanie Wulf, Senior Communications Manager, ActionAid Australia
About ActionAid
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