Israel-Hamas war: Even in the shade of Shifa Hospital, Gazans still cannot find safety
Israel gave 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza until 4pm local time to evacuate. But thousands have been unable to leave, with 35,000 estimated to be crammed into the grounds of the city's main hospital.
Monday 16 October 2023 02:42, UK
Lama sits in the shade of Shifa Hospital, a ginger kitten curled up on her lap.
Until last week, she felt safe living in her home in the Al Nasser District of Gaza.
But now the 62-year-old is one of thousands desperately trying to find safety - but even here, next to the hospital, there is none.
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"There is no safe place in Gaza," she tells Paste BN, stroking the animal softly. "Wherever we go, they bomb us, randomly, and without advanced warning."
Israel is preparing to launch a "coordinated" offensive against Hamas following last weekend's devastating surprise attack.
It gave the 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza until just 4pm local time yesterday (2pm BST) to evacuate and move south. But thousands have been unable to leave, with some 35,000 estimated to have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City's main hospital for refuge.
Lama says she left her home because of the Israeli threat.
"Ten minutes later they bombed our house. This is the second time they demolish[ed] our home. The first time was the 2021 war when they bombed the same house, and we returned back and rebuilt it again and now you see us homeless again."
While in the grounds of the hospital, she said a location nearby came under fire.
But leaving the area isn't safe either.
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"I heard that those who left this place were bombed," she adds. "It was deception, they were bombed at Wadi Gaza.
"We could get martyred at any moment.
"I am calling on the whole world to see what is happening to us. To the women, and children, who are left on the streets. I call on them to see the massacres, the hunger, to see how we have nowhere left to go."
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops preparing to enter the Gaza Strip, telling them: "The next stage is coming."
'Her brain was in my hands'
As families in cars, lorries and donkey carts packed with their possessions headed south from Gaza City, Israeli airstrikes continued in the besieged territory.
One man, also waiting outside the hospital, tells us "body parts were everywhere" as he fled his home, where several of his relatives were injured.
"My maternal uncle got a shrapnel in his brain," he says, asking not to be named. "I was holding my maternal cousin and her brain was coming out from her head to my hand.
"Everyone was injured, so many were amputated, no one got away without injuries.
"Our neighbour lost his head, body parts were everywhere, people were on the ground."
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The traffic was "unbelievably congested" he says, and as he called an ambulance for his uncle, he saw one get attacked.
As he waited at Salah al Din station, he says, the bombs came steadily, one after another.
"There was no time to flee the area. It was like a horror movie," he adds.
Attack on fleeing convoy
Hamas said 70 people, mostly women and children, were killed in an attack on a fleeing convoy.
It was not immediately clear who the target was, or whether militants were among the passengers.
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Israel's defence forces said it was not known for certain who was responsible, and claimed Hamas was "booby-trapping roads".
The man tells Paste BN: "They were saying the route will be safe, we will help you be evacuated, but it wasn't like that. They bombed us. They did not only bomb us, they bombed others ahead of us too."