‘There is just no exit’; displacement is decried

Call is made for humanitarian corridors in Gaza

A humanitarian crisis erupting in Gaza following last weekend’s surprise attack by Hamas continued to inflict misery on Palestinians Saturday, overwhelming aid efforts as Israel moves closer to an expected invasion of the territory, local experts said.

“There just is no exit. And in some ways, it’s really hard to conceive of this as anything other than like a death march,” said professor Noora Lori, the Goldman Faculty Leave Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University.

“They’re still under constant shelling, they have no food, water, electricity, nowhere to go, and no safe passage,” Lori said.

After massive bombings in northern Gaza that destroyed whole neighborhoods, people should call on members of Congress to urge the government to take measures “to ensure that innocent Gazans do not bear the punishment for Hamas’ terrible crimes,” said Zinaida Miller, a professor of law and international affairs at Northeastern University.

Gazans have no good options for what comes next, she said.

“Since the order, Gazans have been fleeing south — but that means essentially doubling the population in the southern area, in an overall territory that is more densely populated than anywhere else,” said Miller, cofaculty director of the Program on Human Rights & the Global Economy.

Gazans couldn’t enter Egypt even if they wanted to, she said. Some who are fortunate will be able to stay with family, but otherwise, Gazans will have a difficult choice: “Seek out shelter in already overcrowded and understaffed refugee camps, or stay in the north and risk death by bombing or ground invasion.”

Lori, who is on leave from the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said among those fleeing northern Gaza is a colleague — a Palestinian attorney, along with his wife, and the couple’s son and two daughters.

They were safe Saturday at the home of a friend, Lori said. But the attorney told a mutual acquaintance that he knows people who have been injured or killed, or who have disappeared during the attacks on Gaza, said Lori.

“I want to say it without crying, but his daughter is really interested in doing a PhD,” Lori said.

Lori was among those on Saturday calling for the establishment of humanitarian corridors in Gaza to help improve the safety of civilians’ journey from the war zone.

But even with those measures, experts warned that the sheer number of refugees poses other problems.

Professor Charli Carpenter, with the department of political science and legal studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said the effort to move so many people will pose dangers of its own.

“It’s simply not possible to move 1 million people on foot in 24 hours. The attempt to do so will cause trampling, crowding, accidents, severe deprivation, exposure, and a crowding that will exacerbate risk of disease,” said Carpenter.

“Chaos, panic, and widespread deprivation also puts families at risk of theft, women at risk of violence, and children at risk of abduction or separation from their parents,” Carpenter said.

Many of those making the trip are children, the elderly, and people with disabilities — all of whom have needs that have to be addressed, said Boston College professor Maryanne Loughry, a Sister of Mercy and a member of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea.

And when people arrive in

‘It’s simply not possible to move 1 million people on foot in 24 hours.’

CHARLI CARPENTER, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

southern Gaza, there needs to be sufficient essential services in place — including enough running water, sanitation, shelter, and health care — just to survive, said Loughry, who teaches at BC’s School of Social Work.

Loughry worked in Gaza about 20 years ago. In those days, she said, there was optimism around the peace process then underway. But the situation has since deteriorated, she said.

“The people themselves are very resilient, and they will do their best. But that will only be able to be sustainable for a short time,” Loughry said. “That’s why now’s the important time to be talking about what can be put in place [so] resources are not stretched too thin and people start dying from just having a lack of basics that they need.”