GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza have sought refuge in what was once the territory’s largest soccer stadium, where families survive on little food and water as they try to stay one step ahead of Israel. last offensive.
Their makeshift tents embrace the shade beneath the stadium stands, with clothes hanging in the July sun on the dusty, dry soccer field. Beneath the covered benches where the players used to sit, Um Bashar bathes a small child who is standing in a plastic bathtub. Lathering the boy’s hair, he shifts and shakes as she pours the cold water over her head, and he grips the plastic seats for balance.
They have been displaced several times, he said, most recently due to renewed Israeli operations against Hamas in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City.
“We woke up and found tanks in front of the door,” he says. “We didn’t take anything with us, not a mattress, not a pillow, not clothes, not anything. Not even food.”
He fled with 70 other people to the Yarmouk sports stadium, a little less than 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of Shijaiyah, which was heavily bombed and virtually emptied. early in the war. Many of the people who ended up in the stadium say they have nothing to return to.
“We left our houses,” said one man, Hazem Abu Thoraya, “and all our houses were bombed and burned, and so was everyone around us.”
Hundreds of thousands of people have remained in northern Gaza, even as Israeli troops have largely surrounded and isolated it. However, aid flows have improved recently and the UN said earlier this week that it can now to meet the basic needs of people in the north. Israel says it is allowing aid into Gaza and blames the UN for not doing enough to move it.
Still, residents say deprivation and insecurity are taking an increasing toll.
“There is no safe place. Safety is in the hands of God,” said Um Ahmad, a displaced woman. “Fear is now felt not only among children, but also among adults. … We don’t even feel safe walking down the street.”
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
