Gaza Journalist Ahmed Abd al-Salam of The Media Line presents a poignant and unfiltered glimpse into the lives of Palestinians affected by the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.
This war, which has left over a million Palestinians displaced, primarily from the northern Gaza Strip,unveils a harrowing reality of survival amid destruction. As the Israel Defense Forces’ responseto the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists unravels, the report captures the voices of those trapped in the aftermath. From the scarcity of basic necessities to the profound loss and despair, the experiences of Gazans like Ali Kulab, Ruslan Nimer Abood, and Muwafaq al-Kafarna offer an intimate look at the human cost of war. Their stories of struggle for survival, amid the rubble of what were once their homes, challenge the audience to confront the stark realities of conflict and its impact on innocent civilians.
Voiceover: The Israel-Hamas war has led to the displacement of more than a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Most have had to flee their homes in the northern portion of the enclave due to airstrikes and demolitions.
The Israel Defense Forces entered Gaza in response to a massacre on October 7 when 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded more than a dozen communities along the border, killing 1,400 people and abducting more than 240 hostages.
As a result, many Palestinians are caught in the eye of the war, the casualties in the thousands, and many are left homeless.
The Media Line’s journalist in Gaza, Ahmed Abd al-Salam, spoke with Palestinian refugees about their plight.
Empty supermarket shelves
Ali Kulab owns a local food market in Khan Yunis. He tells The Media Line that many shelves are empty, lacking basic needs.
Ali Kulab: We are trying to go to the stores and get products like a normal person goes down to the stores and buys things, there are no dairy products or cheeses, and there is no electricity to keep them stored properly.
I have solar energy right now but that doesn’t help keep all the products safe. We also use this same solar energy to charge batteries, so citizens can turn on their phones and use it, share their news, and they did this here in my store next to the refrigerators.
Voiceover: According to Kulab, there are no backup products in Gaza.
Ali Kulab: When the war started, all these storage places ran out of food.
Voiceover: At the same time, money is running out, and banks are closed.
Ali Kulab: I’m going to be honest with you, most of the people have a little bit of money, but there are no products for them to buy. I don’t have products that can be sold to help the people around me.
Voiceover: Ali only opens part of his store fearing all products will be gone and is trying to accommodate more people.
Ali Kulab: Today with the number of products I have, in the span of ten minutes all my products will be gone, and I’m trying to be fair. For example, if someone asks for two bags of sugar, I only give them one.
Voiceover: Refugees from North Gaza and Khan Younis are staying with Ali. and he says water is scarce and there is not enough to accommodate them.
Ali Kulab: I have family members staying with me. There are about 40 of them now. We are suffering, it’s not easy. When I leave my house, I barely have any water and we are trying our best to save up. There is simply no water at home. The water from the municipality hasn’t come to our house in over a week. It used to come twice a week, then it became once; in one week it only comes for two to three hours.
Voiceover: Ruslan Nimer Abood is from Northern Gaza and now lives with friends in Khan Younis.
Ruslan Nimer Abood: I left Gaza because they destroyed the house I used to live in. The situation is miserable and the water is not enough., and you wait four hours for a line for bread, and it’s suffering, just suffering. With water, we try to fill up some gallons and there is no electricity.
Voiceover: Abood tells The Media Line there is no fuel for his automobile.
Ruslan Nimer Abood: I have a car but there is no fuel, so it’s empty.
Voiceover: As money is running out, banks are closed.
Ruslan Nimer Abood: The banks open when our paychecks come out and we need to get them. The exchange places are open but the banks themselves are closed.
Voiceover: Asked about the ongoing war Nimer Abood says:
Ruslan Nimer Abood: This war is a genocide and collective punishment.There are only dark days in front of us and bloodshed.
Voiceover: Israel says the war is in response to what Hamas has done.
Ruslan Nimer Abood: Israel knows everything that has to do with Hamas, they know they are located in the Gaza Strip, they know where their tunnels are, they know everything, everything, everything. Why are they bombing and killing us civilians? The civilians are their targets, the civilians are the targets. They are trying to get rid of every civilian I’m Gaza. Hamas is not their target.
Voiceover: Muwafaq al-Kafarna is from Beit Hanoun and tells The Media Line it is now rubble. Muwafaq al-Kafarna: Since the beginning of the war, there has been heavy bombing in Beit Hanoun, and it has been very violent as well. Beit Hanoun is now all rubble. If we stayed there, we would have been subjected to danger and death and that is why we left our home shortly after the bombardment from the Israeli occupation. We left from there to Tel al-Hawa, and from Tel al-Hawa there was so much bombardment, and the scenario was the exact same until we moved to the south of Gaza, and we moved from the south of Gaza to the schools that were providing shelter. The humanitarian situation here is very difficult. There is no water, there is no clothing, we left our homes with no clothes other than the clothes we are wearing.
We are about 25 people, including the parents and I even have children of my own. My daughter is very sick, and I have been going places left and right to find her a doctor or a pharmacy but there isn’t any. May God help those in the hospitals, The hospitals do not have time to help heal the normal civilians who are simply sick. All of those who are in the hospital are either injured people or martyrs. With everything that has been going on it shows that there will be no place for us to go, neither home, hospitals, schools, stores, nothing. It is obvious that the occupation is trying to erase our existence and remove us from Gaza. Voiceover: Muwafaq was asked if he would leave Gaza.
Muwafaq al Kafarna: No, I’d stay, to be honest I would rather die in Gaza than leave Gaza, even if it wasn’t just a war, even if it was worse. I was born in Gaza, and I love Gaza, I was raised here and I don’t think I would ever leave here.
Voiceover: Muwafaq too is concerned there is not enough food and water.
Muwafaq al Kafarna: A couple of days ago they provided every two people with a small water bottle for half a shekel. Of course, this little girl can drink that water bottle in the span of a minute or a minute and a half. Of course, the food is not enough, the water is not enough, the clothes and beds are not enough, and of course the amount of people in the centers is a lot more than they should be. It is overcrowded. Like imagine being in a classroom filled with 90 to 100 people, and it is overcrowded. We men, we stay outside in the field, and we let the women and children stay inside the schools. We are entering the winter season, and this is even more dangerous for us. Everyone who is currently staying outside is eventually going to need to go inside these classrooms, and this is going to cause a lot of diseases.
Voiceover: Bathing is currently a luxury.
Muwafaq al Kafarna: I only got to shower once since the start of the war, a month ago. We want to drink water more than we want to shower. We would rather save our water for drinking rather than for showering. Thank God for everything.
Voiceover: Muwafaq talks about the war.
Muwafaq al Kafarna: This war is crazy and wicked. The occupation forces don’t have mercy on any normal civilian, on any child, women, or elderly. I have read a lot about wars and the wars that would happen here, but this is by far the worst war after WWI and WWII. There is no mercy for any Palestinian civilian, there is no safe place for us to seek refuge in.
Voiceover: Zuhair Fowzi Mohammed Al Laham has lost many in his family and several homes are demolished.
Zuhair Fowzi Mohammed Al Laham: At night I got a call that told me that my house had been bombarded and that my kids were gone. I was shocked.
Around fourteen people have died.
There were six houses. Five of them were ground-level floors and one was on top, and all of them are gone as you can see.
No, no they didn’t warn us.
Voiceover: Al Laham is currently living in a school.
Zuhair Fowzi Mohammed Al Laham: We are living in one of the schools right now, and two of my children are injured.
We barely have any water, and the water that we are drinking is very salty and there is barely any food.
Voiceover: Al Laham was asked if his kids belong to the resistance.
Zuhair Fowzi Mohammed Al Laham: No, not at all. My kids have nothing to do with this. My oldest son was a university student, and he was the top of his class and the other one was a barber. The rest are kids. No, no way are they a part of this, I am against all of this.
Voiceover: Al Laham, like many, doesn’t know where his family is going to go.
Zuhair Fowzi Mohammed Al Laham: No, it’s impossible to find a place to live after the war; we might be homeless. All of our homes have been demolished.
Voiceover: Em Saber bakes bread, a main staple Gazans rely on, in an oven
Em Saber: As you can see, I am baking bread in an oven.
Because there is no gas or electricity to bake bread, but thank God for it, and thank God for the flour I have left.
Luckily, I had bought this pack of flour before the war, so I am able to bake some bread. I pray that God brings us more flour for our people, and we are able to feed and bake more bread for those who need it and thank God for everything, regardless of what’s happening.
Voiceover: Em Saber was asked about those residing with her.
Em Saber: Around seven to ten people are living with me.
We are managing as much as we can. People are trying to survive and figure it out for themselves.
Mineral water comes two to three times a week for probably a couple of hours a day.
We fill it up by putting it in buckets that could be used in different areas in the house like the bathroom and kitchen and we use it to drink and wash up for prayer, and to cook and bake.
We search for water, and we buy it. We usually get a gallon for two shekels.
Voiceover: Em Saber speaks about the war.
Em Saber: Stop this war. This war needs to be put to an end, they are killing innocent women and children and civilians who have nothing to do with it. This war needs to end. The innocent are the victims of this crucial war. Look at all the homes that have been demolished, the people who have died, the children that have been murdered. Show the world that enough is enough and this needs to come to an end.
Voiceover: The Media Line spoke with a local taxi driver.
Taxi driver: I am a taxi driver, I drive about two kilometers from this starting point which is the beginning of the Street of the Sea to Nasser, and I take a shekel for each ride.
People are tired of walking and there is no fuel or gas for people to drive their cars, and this is the way it is. There are no cars or anything.
Voiceover: Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi now resides in an UNRWA school.
Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi: I am sitting here at a school in Khan Yunis provided by UNWRA.
We have our kids, neighbors, our wives, and most likely more. We are around 1,000 people from our neighborhood alone. I have right now my wife with me, and she is German, and she has a German passport, and she does not know how to get out of here in spite of her having a German passport, and she lived in Germany for 20 years.
Voiceover: Al Hamalawi’s wife is German and is trying to leave.
Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi: They said that her turn hasn’t arrived yet for her to leave the country.
Voiceover: Al Hamalawi is not sure how he is going to survive.
Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi: We live by the grace of God. We stand here and wait our turn for fuel, gas, water, and bread like the rest of these people.
We are hoping that things go back to normal, and we just live a normal life again and we hope to go back to our homes and day-to-day lives like before.
Voiceover: Israel says this is retaliation for what happened to them.
Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi: The Jews can say whatever they want, but with what we see every day and how they are killing women and children, and they are killing innocent civilians and bombing schools and hospitals, there is no justification for this, and the world is watching what they are doing to us.
Voiceover: Al Hamalawi feels the south of Gaza isn’t safer.
Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi: No, it is not true at all, just a little while ago they bombed near the school we are staying in.
Voiceover: Al Hamalawi is not sure how he will survive financially.
Abdel Kareem Al Hamalawi: This is an important question because I honestly do not know, and the world needs to intervene immediately. They need to at least provide financial aid. To this day, I have not taken any blankets or mattresses or anything from the aid groups. Every two people are allowed to get a liter of water and that is not enough. There is no bread to this day, and we eat what the aid workers bring us, which is rice, and it is not enough for one.
Editors note: The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society acknowledge that food, water, and medical supplies are being distributed in Gaza, with no immediate food shortage reported.
However, they emphasize that fuel is critically needed, with reserves nearly depleted, risking the operation of hospitals and water treatment plants. Despite damage to infrastructure, Israel has facilitated the entry of aid through a joint mechanism with the US, Egypt, and the UN, allowing hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza since October 21.