“We Are on the Streets”: Palestinians Flee Gaza City Amid Deadly Israeli Assault

Gaza City is burning. Families clutch their few remaining belongings, fleeing homes reduced to rubble as Israeli bombings intensify. For hundreds of thousands, the streets are now their only refuge.

Mass Displacement and Devastation

Since early August, Israel has escalated its military offensive in Gaza City, declaring the area a “combat zone.” The operation has already forced hundreds of Palestinian families to abandon their homes, setting up makeshift tents amid squalid conditions near refugee camps like Nuseirat and Deir el-Balah.

Mohammed Maarouf, 50, who fled Beit Lahiya with his family of nine, told reporters: “We are thrown in the streets, like what would I say? Like dogs? We are not like dogs. Dogs are treated better than us.”

Humanitarian Catastrophe

At least 77 Palestinians were killed in attacks on Saturday alone, including 47 in Gaza City. Among the dead were civilians lining up for bread, a grim reminder of the crisis’s human toll. Residential buildings have been destroyed, and emergency crews continue to search for survivors in the rubble.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that up to one million Palestinians could be forcibly displaced from northern Gaza, heightening fears of famine, dehydration, and widespread suffering.

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, called the evacuation plans “not only unfeasible but incomprehensible,” stressing that safe and dignified mass relocation is impossible under current conditions.

International Condemnation

Critics, including Israeli columnist Gideon Levy, have described the campaign as an act of ethnic cleansing, aiming to confine residents in concentration zones or force them to leave Gaza entirely. Despite global outcry, Israel’s government continues its offensive, backed by billions in U.S. military aid.

The attacks come amid fears of an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, as thousands of families struggle for survival while their city crumbles around them.