To those that nonetheless care, this can be the final letter I write from Gaza Metropolis.
We expect Israel to formally situation its “evacuation orders” any time now. My beloved metropolis, Gaza, stands getting ready to a full army occupation by the Israeli military. Their plan is to drive us all to depart our properties and transfer into tents within the southern a part of the Strip. We have no idea what is going to occur to those that resist. We could also be dwelling our final days in Gaza Metropolis.
Because the starting of the warfare, we’ve got heard that Israel desires to occupy our metropolis and take it as a settlement space for its individuals. At first, we didn’t imagine it; we thought this type of information was psychological warfare. In any case, we’ve got had “evacuation orders” earlier than and folks have been in a position to return, even when it was to the ruins of their properties.
On October 13, shortly after the genocide began, the Israeli military instructed everybody in northern Gaza, together with Gaza Metropolis, to maneuver south. The orders have been accompanied by relentless bombardment. Lots of would generally die in a day. Lots of of hundreds of individuals fled south for his or her lives.
We didn’t. My father refused to depart our house, so all of us stayed. We lived in our house for months in insufferable ache and worry. We witnessed the destruction of our neighbourhood with our eyes.
Then the Israeli military lower off the north from the south. Help couldn’t attain the north. From January to April 2024, my household and I lived probably the most suffocating days of the warfare. We have been starved; we spent our days looking for something to ease our starvation. Typically, we have been compelled to eat animal feed.
In January this yr, when a ceasefire took impact, individuals have been allowed to return to the north. It was an emotional second that mirrored simply how a lot we, Palestinians, are hooked up to our land.
This time, the ambiance feels completely different. It feels that the specter of everlasting occupation, of everlasting loss, could be very actual.
“In preparation for the switch of civilians from the warfare zone to the south … a lot of tents and shelter tools will probably be allowed to enter [Gaza]”, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on Fb.
Folks throughout Gaza learn this information with a heavy coronary heart. There are a lot of questions and few solutions: The place will we flee? When will this begin? Will anybody intervene and cease this disaster?
Individuals are overwhelmed – emotionally, mentally, bodily, financially; they can not endure any extra struggling.
Since my household and I heard this announcement, we’ve got been one another with confused, fearful eyes.
After I noticed photographs on social media of tents and tarpaulins getting into Gaza Metropolis, my coronary heart broke into 1,000,000 items. The considered my future being stuffed right into a tent terrified me. My goals are massive; how can I match them right into a small tent?
I instructed my father I don’t need to reside in a tent. Tears have been rolling down my cheeks. He checked out me with helplessness in his eyes and stated, “We shouldn’t have one other selection, the tent is changing into our new actuality.”
We don’t need to depart, however we really feel we shouldn’t have a selection. We don’t suppose we will endure the relentless bombardment and shelling as soon as once more. The Israelis will probably be much more brutal after they invade this time. It won’t be punishment this time; will probably be complete erasure.
Feeling the top of their metropolis is coming, individuals are spending what they worry could also be their final days in it with their households, having their single meal for the day, collectively. They’re strolling round their neighbourhoods, taking footage of themselves with the locations tied to their childhood recollections, capturing all the pieces that may be erased.
I write these phrases, sitting in a shared workspace the place many college students and writers try to struggle the worry of what’s to come back by learning and dealing. They’re hanging on to their work routines, hoping for some normalcy amid the terrifying chaos.
Folks in Gaza love life, even when life means surviving by the naked minimal. Even within the darkest moments, we at all times discover a strategy to have hope, pleasure, and happiness.
I need to have hope, however I’m additionally terrified – not solely of the bombs, of compelled displacement, of tents and exile. I’m frightened of being lower off from the world, of being silenced.
I really feel like what Israel is getting ready for us within the south is a focus camp the place we will probably be lower off from the world, our voices muffled, our existence erased.
I have no idea how for much longer my phrases will attain the surface world, so I need to take this chance to make an enchantment.
Don’t forget me, Sara Awad, a Palestinian scholar, whose greatest dream is to complete her diploma in English literature and turn into an expert journalist.
Don’t forget the individuals of Gaza and their 2 million tales of affection, heartbreak and perseverance.
Don’t forget my metropolis, Gaza – an historical metropolis, filled with historical past and tradition, full of affection.
Don’t forget how fiercely we resisted and held on to our properties and land, even when the world all however deserted us.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.