GAZA, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- At the al-Saraya intersection in central Gaza City, hundreds of Palestinian families gathered in defiance of the Israeli military's latest evacuation order. They held banners and shouted chants, insisting they had no safe place left to go.
The demonstration captured the exhaustion and anger of residents who have endured nearly two years of war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced the vast majority of Gaza's population, and left the enclave's infrastructure in ruins.
Men, women, and children marched together, some carrying signs that read "We will not leave our homes" and "The south is not safe." Others held photographs of relatives killed in recent airstrikes.
Ahmed Salim, a father of five from Gaza City's al-Rimal neighborhood, said his family's home had been damaged but he would not abandon it. "Israel claims the south is safe, but the planes are bombing everywhere," he said. "There is no real shelter there, only crowded tents and a lack of food and medicine."
For Nawal al-Khatib, 27, the protest was an act of resistance. "We want to tell Israel and the world that we are civilians, not fighters," she said. "Every day they tell us to evacuate to already overcrowded areas, but displacement means hunger and thirst. We are fleeing from death to death. I would rather wait for death in my city, hoping the world will wake up and save us."
The Israeli military has intensified its campaign in recent days, striking residential and commercial towers across Gaza City. Witnesses and local officials said the attacks had destroyed major buildings and displaced thousands more families.
Among them was Samer Abu Hussein, who lost his home in the Al-Roya Tower in southern Gaza and now lives in a tent with his wife and seven children. "Even in the tent, we don't feel safe," he said. "The warplanes are constantly overhead, and the bombing is everywhere."
On Tuesday, the Israeli army ordered all residents of Gaza City to evacuate, warning that those who stayed behind faced grave danger. "The army will act with great force in the area," military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X, urging nearly a million people to move to Al-Mawasi, a narrow coastal strip Israel has designated a "humanitarian zone."
The order came as Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces had destroyed dozens of high-rise buildings, accusing Hamas of using them as surveillance posts. Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours had killed 83 people and wounded 223, bringing the death toll since Oct. 7 to more than 64,600.
Conditions in the south, however, are dire. Shelters are overflowing, with families crammed into schools, tents and public buildings. Aid workers warn of severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine. "The capacity to absorb new waves of displaced families is exhausted," said Rawan Ahmed, a humanitarian worker in Khan Younis. "Many people are forced to sleep outdoors."
Residents say those conditions make evacuation an impossible choice. "If I die here, I will die within my walls," said Mohammed Zaqout of the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in western Gaza City. "But if I am displaced, I will die of hunger and thirst in the camps. All of Gaza is being targeted. There is no safe place."
Hospitals in the south are already overwhelmed with casualties from recent airstrikes, according to health officials. Shortages of fuel and medicine have further strained the system, raising fears that a wider assault could push Gaza's fragile medical network past the breaking point.
Still, many in Gaza say they feel abandoned by the world. "Perhaps the world will wake up and try to save us," said Mariam al-Khatib, one of the young women who joined the protest. "But for now, we have no choice but to stay in our homes and hold on to survival." ■
