Handing out food in Rafah
After nearly three months of war in Gaza, during which the population fled their homes and sought refuge amid IDF operations in the Strip, Gazans now say they’re exhausted and only awaiting the end of the war.
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"Enough with this war! We are totally exhausted. We are constantly displaced from one place to another in cold weather," said Louay Abu Khater, staying in a camp complex in Rafah. “The bombs keep falling on us every day and night. We expect missiles (at any moment), while others are preparing for New Year's Eve celebrations.”
Ahmed al-Baz, a 33-year-old resident of the Strip, told news agency AFP that the year 2023 was “the worst in my life. It was a year of destruction and devastation. We went through hell and encountered death itself. We just want the war to end and start the new year at our homes, with a cease-fire declared.”
The Reuters news agency reported that many displaced Gazans have been forced to flee their shelters more than once. The fighting has compelled them to seek refuge in desolate tent camps or hide under tarps and plastic sheets in open fields.
According to the UN, more than 85% of the Strip’s 2.4 million residents of the Strip fled their homes since October 7. Many Gazans are grappling with winter weather in tent camps, with some suffering from hunger. Due to the war, Gaza faces shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medicine, and is almost entirely dependent on aid from humanitarian agencies.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in Gaza. Against this backdrop of increasing international pressure, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of the growing threat of infectious disease outbreaks in the Strip.
Israel announced Friday that it would allow nearly 1.4 million vaccines against diseases such as yellow fever, polio, smallpox, tetanus, typhoid, diphtheria, and encephalitis to enter Gaza. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said the vaccine transfer was coordinated with UNICEF to prevent the outbreak of diseases in the Strip.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Friday to discuss Egypt's plan for ending the war, which includes cease-fires and hostage release deals involving Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, until a permanent cease-fire is reached.
A Hamas official told the AFP news agency the delegation in Cairo will examine the proposal and seek "guarantees for a complete Israeli military withdrawal," from Gaza.
In Rafah, 27-year-old Youssef Ahras told the agency that he hopes the negotiations "stop the bloodshed... because the price of war is so high I don't know a lot about the political aspects because as locals, we are busy with our essential needs.”