STORY: :: Palestinians flee through Central Gaza as Israel orders residents to evacuate to the south
:: Central Gaza, Gaza
:: September 11, 2025
:: Nassim Al-Aatout, Displaced Palestinian
“We left from the heart of death. I mean, missiles over our heads, destruction, airstrikes… I mean, an indescribable life, it’s as if you are living in a horror movie. How is it to watch a horror movie? We live like this. This is our life, it’s as if they are making a movie with us. We ran away, no bed, no food, no drink. We could not wear our shoes.”
:: Abu Tarek Habboub, Displaced Palestinian
“I have nothing, my ten children and I are walking in the street, heading south, we don’t know where we are going, we don’t have mattresses or blankets, we don’t even have money or anything. As you can see, sitting in the street like this, we have God, we do not know how this will be solved. I swear I don’t even know what we are heading into, death? Maybe death would be better than what we are living in. I have children who slept in the street yesterday.”
Israel has ordered the hundreds of thousands of people living in Gaza City to leave as it intensifies its all-out war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but with little safety, space and food in the rest of Gaza, people face dire choices.
Palestinians carried their belongings on vehicles, trucks, carts and even on foot.
In the past week, Israeli forces have been operating in three Gaza City neighborhoods further east – Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Tuffah – and sent tanks briefly into Sheikh Radwan.
It said last Thursday it controlled 40% of the city.
Gaza City families continued to stream out of their homes in areas targeted by Israeli aerial and ground operations, heading either westward towards the center of the city and along the coast, or south towards other parts of the strip.
