From October 2023 to January 2025, Benjamin Netanyahu managed to displace about 1.9 million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza. It must be proud. The Israeli Prime Minister can now go to the Guinness Record Book as the man who uniquely displaced most people in the smallest territory.
I, myself, are one of these 1.9 million. I was shifted twice: the first time at the beginning of the genocidal war and then a year later.
Many Palestinian families were repeatedly displaced, about ten times or more.
It was a clear strategy of Netanyahu to divide us. The north was cut off from the south. The « North -Americans » were forcibly expelled to the south. Then « Southerners » and the other displaced were forced to move to the center.
But that wasn’t enough for him. The Israeli Prime Minister authorized a large -scale campaign to clear the house in the Gaza Strip, especially in the north and south. He also ordered the blockade of humanitarian aid to starve us.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 92 percent of the houses in the Gaza Strip, or about 436,000 structures, were destroyed or damaged as a result of Israeli aggression. According to Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Israeli army has not stopped demolishing houses in Rafah throughout the fire.
According to the World Food Program, from January, more than 2 million people were fully dependent on food assistance and hundreds of thousands faced « catastrophic levels of food insecurity ».
Netanyahu has ordered that all humanitarian aid be reduced again, and it plans to eject the Palestinians from the north to the south again.
Its purpose is clear: to tear the communities, to separate and weaken us, to turn against each other through extreme deprivation. But its strategy failed in the last 16 months, and will fail again.
In the face of a genocidal war, the people of Gaza were immense solidarity with each other. Whoever had a house would open it to take refuge, including their families, friends, neighbors and even unknown. Whoever had a food would also share.
When we were under siege in our neighborhood, Sheikh Radwan, in December 2023, used to throw water bottles through the windows of our neighbor and daughter to ensure that they had something to drink. We also provided food to other people who need it by throwing it on the wall that separates our home from other houses.
During the second trip, a friend of my father opened his home in the south and remained there for four months.
On January 15, when the Ceasefire was announced, the people of Gaza won against Netanyahu and his « division and governing » strategy. Four days later, some of Rafah’s displaced people were able to go back.
Then, on January 27, the « Great Return » arrived. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians headed north.
For most displaced people, the « return » meant discovering the homeless. People walked on long distances on foot only to find their homes damaged or destroyed. The word we use to describe houses destroyed in Gaza right now is « biscuit »: a house broken like a cookie.
The homeless returned had few options: going to schools turned into shelters, launching a tent in open spaces or next to the ruins of their houses or trying to repair the standing walls in a livable space.
Families suffer from intense rain, strong wind and cold. Many, as they cleaned, repaired or sought in the rubble to find their objects, found the bodies of their loved ones and excavated them to bury them.
But even in the harsh reality of the homeless, Palestinians still find solidarity.
People share how little they have food, water and even space in piled tents. Neighbors work together to repair broken walls and roofs. Some with half -damaged houses offer shelters to the needy. Volunteers launch campaigns to distribute food and clothing to schools, shelters and tents.
Some young people gather daily to cook in community kitchens, ensuring that no one is hungry. People provide emotional support through WhatsApp groups and mental health meetings. At night, families gather to share stories and comfort each other to reduce loneliness.
The men in our neighborhood made a calendar to help each other to make refuges in damaged houses. We were helped to put us -to secure them with sticks on the floor and repair walls in our damaged home. We helped others by providing electricity to feed the equipment through our solar panel barely.
« Man » is now what most Gaza people want. It is supposed to be a warm place of sweet memories that you can escape when the world becomes mass to endure. It is not supposed to be a tent, a school or a destroyed house.
But the Palestinians have been here before. Three quarters of the Gaza population are refugees or descendants of refugees who lost their home in Nakba. My own ancestors were expelled from their homes in the city of Al-Majdal.
What Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders like him seem to understand is that Gaza is not only a place for us, but is our home.
Although Israel often cuts help and attacks, destroying houses and displacing people, we will rebuild, not by magic, but because of our own solidarity, resilience and support of the world.
The unit that has passed from generation to generation has built a community that refuses to be erased. This is what will help Gaza increase again.
The opinions expressed in this article are their own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial position.
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