DISPLACED GAZANS PAY DEARLY FOR HOMESICKNESS

▶ Palestinians make perilous journeys to check on their houses as conflict rages, with many not surviving trip

In the early hours of December 17, Mohammed Awwad quietly set off to his family’s home in Khan Younis, a journey that would typically have taken him a few minutes by car.

Several hours later, after facing bullets, bombs and other horrors on the way, he returned to Al Mawasi, western Gaza, where his family have been displaced. He was wounded and carrying the body of his older brother, Saeed, who did not survive the trip.

“We just wanted to check on our home,” Mr Awwad, 32, told The National. “We were struck by a missile. My brother was killed, and so were others. I was injured, and I saw the bodies of two other people.”

Israel has been bombing the strip since Hamas’s attack on the country’s south, when militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages.

Since October 7, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 50,000 injured, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry says.

Residents said Israel had been heavily bombing the area near the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, and had hit a school where displaced people had sought shelter.

“Only in Gaza, and only Israeli crimes have no limits,” said one resident, adding that several of his friends had been killed in an Israeli strike earlier in the week. “Losing a loved one is very difficult.”

About 1.9 million Gazans – nearly 85 per cent of the population – have been displaced by the conflict.

On Wednesday, the UN said Israel had issued evacuation orders for large areas of Khan Younis, where more than 140,000 displaced people had taken refuge.

Mr Awwad and his family were forced to leave their home in the city early this month after Israel began bombing the area it had once ordered northern Gazans to flee to.

“I left with Saeed and others in the early morning and snuck into the occupied area in central Khan Younis,” Mr Awwad said.

The brothers walked for hours, avoiding the main roads, and passing through fields between side roads.

When they reached their destination, Mr Awwad could barely recognise the area he grew up in. Roads had been bulldozed and buildings flattened by shelling, tanks occupied the streets and snipers were positioned on rooftops, he said.

“When we reached the area, others like us were also there to check on their homes. The Israeli army started shooting at us and we hid behind trees and among the rubble. “Never again will I go there.” Mr Awwad’s father was in mourning after Saeed’s death. “Why did they kill my son?” he asked. “Is checking on our home a reason to kill him? How is it possible to pay with our lives the price of our longing for our homes?”

The deaths and mass displacement of Palestinians and the large-scale destruction of their homes have drawn comparisons with the Nakba of 1948, when Israel was established as a state, and thousands of Palestinians were killed and many more were forced from their homes.

Rachid Abdel-Qader, 65, lost his son and nephew last week when they also made the journey to northern Khan Younis to check on their homes.

“They died trying to get there after the Israeli army shot and killed them instantly,” Mr Abdel-Qader said.

“I was against them taking this trip. But other members of the family said it was necessary to check on our homes, because we were told that they were damaged by the shelling.”

Displaced Palestinians are living in harsh and overcrowded conditions, and Gaza faces an escalating humanitarian crisis.

US-based Human Rights Watch has accused Israel’s government of “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel” and “wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance”.

“We are suffering each moment we are displaced. There is no place to sleep, shower, or go to the toilet. We do not have the most basic needs for human life. Everyone is in a state of deep and unprecedented longing to spend even one hour at home,” Mr Abdel-Qader said.

“For us the displaced, going back home is a dream.”

While some Gazans displaced from Khan Younis have made the journey back, those who were displaced from the north have lost all hope of ever returning or even checking on their homes. The area remains under heavy Israeli fire from air, land and sea.

Ahmed Ibrahim, 34, has been displaced twice since he left his home in Gaza city two months ago, and is now staying in a makeshift tent in western Khan Younis.

“Some relatives who are still there told me our home was heavily damaged,” he said.

“The only wish of each displaced Palestinian is to return to their home, no matter what. My children draw their rooms on paper and build a replica of our home using bricks.

“The most difficult part is appeasing their longing.”

The deaths and mass displacements have drawn comparisons with the Nakba of 1948, when Israel was established