2023-10-17 10:24:04
The French newspaper La Croix published a report by writers Vincienne Joly and Méline Le Briol, in which they said that last Friday, Israel ordered the evacuation of “all civilians” from Gaza City towards the south, meaning more than a million people; Because of the bombing that targeted the Strip in response to the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, an action that was condemned by the United Nations, while 3 residents spoke to “Lacroix” about the reason for their refusal to leave.
The two writers reviewed a brief message, written in Arabic on bulletins, discovered at dawn on Friday, October 13, from a resident of Gaza. It contained the following phrase: “Evacuate your homes immediately and move to the south of Wadi Gaza (a river that passes south of Gaza City).” They stated that it was the Israeli army that dropped it using a drone.
According to the report, the message was clear, as Palestinian graphic designer Ahmed Dia, who spoke to the newspaper over the phone, said, “There is no safe place, people are dying everywhere, even if I wanted to leave, I cannot, there is no means of transportation to go to the south.” “Those with cars are leaving, and the rest are stuck. Our phone call is punctuated by the sounds of continuous explosions and frequent phone line outages.”
Is it a “new Nakba”?
He stated that on the seventh day of the heavy bombardment launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack, the residents of Gaza City are hesitant to respond to the orders of the Israeli army. Thousands of them have been heading south since Friday morning, some on foot, carrying children and some bags, others in cars, on motorcycles, or piled on truck trailers.
The two writers reported that Hamas, for its part, confirms that “the Palestinian people reject the threats and calls from the occupation leaders to leave their homes and flee to the south or Egypt.”
They quoted Ziad Madoukh, Director of the French Language Department at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, as supporting this position, as he said, “I will not surrender to threats and pressure from Israel: with my wife and 5 of our children, we have decided to remain in our home.” “The references for me are the Red Cross and the United Nations: as long as they won’t send us trucks, I won’t move,” explains Ziad, who saves a little battery power on his phone to testify to French-speaking media.
Stay and pray
Like graphic designer Ahmed Dia, Ziad sees the Israeli-required evacuation as an indication of a “new Nakba,” an Arabic term that means “disaster” and refers to the forced exile of 700,000 Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948. In other words, departure without return. “Staying in my home is my way of resisting,” says Ziad, “even if it means waiting until death.”
The two writers pointed out that at a time when there are repeated calls to allow Egypt to open safe passage for civilians in the Gaza Strip, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi last Thursday called on the people of Gaza to “remain on their land,” and King Abdullah II of Jordan last Friday warned against “any attempt to transfer… Palestinians,” stressing that the conflict “must not extend to neighboring countries.”
They concluded their report with Ahmed Dia saying, who could not hide his sadness, “We will complain of this world to God when we meet him.”
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