Dozens of displaced women and children gathered in front of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, on Wednesday, raising their hands and chanting slogans demanding a ceasefire..
The demonstrators, wearing scarves and winter coats, carried posters targeting both Israel and Hamas, with messages saying: “Stop the war” and “Release the prisoners now,” referring to Israeli hostages who were taken during Hamas’ deadly rampage in Israel. . On October 7th.
Israel responded harshly to this attack by besieging and bombing Gaza, destroying large parts of the Strip and displacing at least 1.93 million people, according to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency.
A woman, who requested to remain anonymous, told CNN: “We were forced to leave our homes. The air strikes were on our heads, and our relatives were under the rubble. They were killed before our eyes, so we fled.” I’m dying. “I don’t want flour, I don’t want vouchers, I want to go home.”
Huge displacement camps have spread across Gaza, where diseases such as diarrhoea, jaundice and hepatitis A are common, due to overcrowding and limited access to drinking water or sanitation.
Ismail Hassouna, another civilian, said: “We cannot feed our children or buy firewood. We are demanding a ceasefire and to return to our homes, even if they have been bombed. We will rebuild them.”
Hassouna added: “We are against the policies of deportation and killing, killing children, starving people, stealing aid, and keeping people inside tents without the minimum necessities for living. We have the right to live, and our children have the right to live.”
With winter winds and heavy rain hitting Gaza, Noha Shaheen told CNN that children are “dying from the cold.”
“What’s left? Enough, we want to go home.”
