The Abumarzouq family in north Gaza has heard the order to leave ahead of Israel’s expected ground assault. While they know it’s not safe to stay, they’re not going anywhere.
“We prefer to die here and we will not leave this land,” Hailma Abumarzouq told 7.30.
Hailma and Mahmoud Abumarzouq used their life savings to build their three-storey Gaza townhouse. They’ve called it home for the past 25 years.
“Where [can we] go?” Hailma said.
“We hope that this miserable situation [will] stop. We have the right to live like you, like all the rest of the people in the world.”
The war started after Hamas broke through Israel’s border and killed civilians, which included an attack at a music festival and Kibbutzim in the country’s south.
The Israeli military says more than 1,300 people have been killed, including 279 soldiers. They say more than 3,600 people have been injured and Hamas has 126 hostages.
With a ground assault imminent, Israel has ordered more than 1 million civilians to leave northern Gaza. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday it would be impossible for civilians to comply with the evacuation order without devastating humanitarian consequences. Hamas is embedded throughout the city.
On Sunday, Mr Guterres described the Middle East as on the “verge of the abyss” and has appealed to Hamas to immediately release hostages, and for Israel to grant rapid and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for the civilians in Gaza.
‘We depend on the external aid’
At the time 7.30 met them, the Abumarzouq’s had no mains power or running water and the fridge was almost empty. They were running their generator sparingly.
“We haven’t any supplies … we depend on the external aid,” Hailma Abumarzouq said.
On his way to get bread, her son narrowly missed injury from a missile attack.
There are more than 30 relatives now living under the Abumarzouq’s roof, including 10-year-old Canadian Eleen Abuwarda, who is visiting her grandparents Mahmoud and Hailma.
“I came here to Palestine a couple of weeks ago and I realised that everything has been [getting] bombed and … the buildings have been going down, and houses, and that’s why I’m scared,” said Eleen Abuwarda.
“I really want to go back to Canada, and Gaza is not safe.”
Stuck in Gaza and fearful
Eleen Abuwarda hopes she’ll be able to leave Gaza soon, but any repatriation flights will depart from Egypt. It’ll be a treacherous drive to get there and will depend on the accessibility of the Rafah border crossing.
“I am happy kind of to see my family [in Gaza] but I’m still scared because I’m scared that they will bomb everything,” Eleen Abuwarda said.
There are also 19 Australians known to be currently stuck in Gaza, including a family from Adelaide.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has sent a message to Australians in the area to move to the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza if they “assess it to be safe”, citing media reports that the crossing will be open to Australian citizens.
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