A woman in a town surrounded by Israeli troops said she and her family stayed away from the windows and prayed for relief: “That’s how we survive these dark days.”
For more than a year, as Israeli bombs pounded northern Gaza around Mariam Awwad’s home, she and her family of 11 have refused to leave.
Their resolve did not change even after the Israeli military dropped leaflets over the town of Jabaliya on Sunday, ordering Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south. The military was renewing an offensive on the north, saying it was going after Hamas fighters.
“We refuse to flee only to die in humiliation,” Ms. Awwad, 23, an advertising copywriter who lives with her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, said Thursday in an interview. “Death is death, whether we die here or elsewhere. So let’s die with dignity in our home.”
Roughly 400,000 people remain in Gaza’s north, according to the United Nations, and most appear to either be taking a defiant stance similar to Ms. Awwad’s, or do not have the means to flee. Others may be fearful of being permanently displaced from their homes, even as the United Nations and aid groups are sounding the alarm over a worsening humanitarian situation, including the closure of hospitals.
The World Food Program said Wednesday that with the main aid crossings into northern Gaza closed and its partner kitchens forced to shut because of the evacuation orders, it is no longer able to distribute food to families who desperately need it.
Israel has said it is trying to eliminate a regrouped Hamas presence in the north, and accuses Hamas of embedding in civilian areas. On Thursday, Israel said it had killed 12 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members in a strike on a command center in Jabaliya, in an area that had been a medical compound. It said two of those killed took part in the Hamas-led attack on Israel last year that prompted the war.
