The northern city of Jabaliya had already suffered violent attacks by the Israeli army early in the war, killing many civilians and demolishing large parts of the suburbs. So as Israeli ground forces moved to other parts of the Gaza Strip and military strikes focused elsewhere, residents thought they had seen their worst days.
But last week, the Israeli army again dropped leaflets on Jabaliya, where tens of thousands of people live, ordering them to leave as it prepared to launch a new offensive.
“When the Israelis dropped the leaflets, people were terrified, especially considering what they had experienced before,” said Iman Abu Jalhum, 23, who graduated from medical school two months before the war began. and who volunteered in hospitals treating the injured. “We thought we were safe since we had been attacked before; the Israelis are already there.
Shortly after the leaflets fell, so did the bombs, she said. Ms. Abu Jalhum, her 16-year-old sister and her parents fled their home under bombardment. She only had time to throw some clothes into a bag and put on her prayer shawl.
His father, who has back problems, had difficulty walking on the road. Eventually they found a donkey cart to take him a few miles south.
Israel said it renewed the offensive in Jabaliya on May 11 because Hamas was trying to consolidate its infrastructure and operations in the region. Hamas accused Israel of “intensifying its aggression against civilians throughout the Gaza Strip” and vowed to continue fighting.
At least 15 civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Jabaliya on Saturday and 30 others injured, according to Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency. Ambulances and emergency teams were unable to reach the area to rescue the injured and recover the bodies, it was reported.
The Israeli military said Saturday it had “engaged and eliminated” Hamas fighters in Jabaliya in a number of battles and located several tunnel shafts. Hamas said its fighters destroyed an Israeli tank south of Jabaliya.
Ms. Abu Jalhum and her family are among at least 64,000 people displaced from Jabaliya and a nearby town over the past week, according to the main United Nations agency helping the Palestinians, UNRWA.
They are now taking refuge a few kilometers to the south in a bombed building, where the smell of corpses not yet found floats in the air. The strikes are still hitting nearby, she said, but there are fewer explosions and no clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters.
On Thursday, Ms. Abu Jalhum attempted to return to Jabaliya to check on her house, walking for 45 minutes through streets covered in debris. But as she approached her neighborhood, the explosions struck too close to continue, she said.
“Yes, we have courage, but we are still afraid,” she said. “You might see martyrs killed in the street that no one can reach. You’re afraid there’s a sniper. Drones could target anyone walking the streets.
His family had to flee several times during the seven months of war and always went to live with relatives in the same region. This time, the offensive is larger and more intense, she said.
“We just want to go home,” she said, adding: “We are so exhausted. You see it on our faces. “Sometimes we want to cry, but we can’t. »
