Israel's siege in Gaza: 'I expect to never wake up again' – DW – 05/20/2025

DW

20-05-2025

Amid Israel's new offensive in Gaza, Palestinians tell DW of living under constant bombardment, scouring for food and fearing that they and their families will "never wake up again."
"We live in hell. Safety and life in Gaza have become meaningless," said Alaa Moein, speaking to DW by phone from Gaza City where he has sought refuge with his wife and three children.
"Every day, I expect to die with my children. I go to sleep at night expecting never to wake up again," the 35-year-old said.
Moein and his family fled from Jabalia town late last week as missiles rained down on northern Gaza amid an escalation of the Israeli offensive.
The five of them are now crammed into a single room with other relatives.
In addition to the constant threat to their lives, Moein's family is also struggling to find anything to eat.
"We have no bread or food. We eat whatever we can find, without knowing if it is edible. We rely on herbs and cook them. Everything is expensive. I have used all my savings to buy food," Moein said.
The critical lack of food in Gaza has put the entire Strip at risk of famine as Israel says it is minimally lifting its aid blockade Image: Mahmoud Issa/REUTERS
Trauma of repeated displacement
Moein's story of multiple displacements and constant hunger is common across war-battered Gaza, home to some 2.1 million people.
Farmer Naim Shafi'i and his family have once again had to flee their home on the outskirts of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
He's now living in a tent in Gaza City that he's pitched by the side of the road.
"The shelling hasn't stopped [in the north], it's everywhere," the 39-year-old told DW by phone.
Israel hasn't allowed foreign journalists into Gaza since it launched its war against Hamas in 2023, so DW often has to rely on talking to Gazans over the phone.
"I had a bag of flour, and I took it with me. It was the most important thing I could take with me when we left Beit Lahia," Shafi'i said.
"I don't know how long this will last. We are trying to survive."
When Shafi'i returned to Beit Lahia in January amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, he planted a few vegetables next to the bombed-out building that they sought shelter in.
That vegetable bed, too, is now gone.
"Every day there's news of a possible ceasefire, and the next morning what we see is bombing, destruction and killing. I don't know where we'll go next," he said.
Israel starts allowing in minimal aid
Israel announced on Sunday that limited aid would start being allowed into Gaza in a partial lifting of an 11-week humanitarian blockade that has seen one in five people in the territory face starvation.
Israel has said the blockade is part of a strategy of "maximum pressure" aimed at toppling Hamas and forcing the Palestinian militant group to release the remaining 58 hostages.
Five UN trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza on Monday, according to the COGAT unit within the Israeli Defense Ministry, which oversees Israel's crossings to Gaza.
Trucks carrying aid crossed from Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza on Monday Image: Ronen Zvulun/REUTERS
The United Nations said that Israel had cleared a total of nine trucks to cross the border into Gaza on Monday. However, it was too dangerous in the dark to allow the trucks to continue their journey into the territory so late, the UN added.
It is unclear when and where aid will start to be distributed.
The nine trucks are "a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed," United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement on Monday.
He called for significantly more aid to be allowed into Gaza.
The news that a "basic quantity of food" would be allowed into Gaza has been widely shared in the territory.
"It's good that something is coming, but so far we haven't seen any change," Raed al-Athamna told DW on Monday evening from Gaza City where he and his extended family are living.
Mass evacuation warnings ahead of Israeli offensive
As it allows aid the trickle in, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pushed ahead with its ground offensive.
The IDF announced on Sunday that ground troops were operating in multiple areas throughout the "northern and southern Gaza Strip" as part of a military new offensive codenamed "Operation Gideon."
In the past week, Israel's military has issued prominent evacuation warnings for parts of Gaza, including around the cities of Khan Younis, Gaza's second largest city, and Rafah in the south, as well as several neighborhoods in North Gaza.
Israel says it issues the evacuation orders to move Palestinians out of harm's way.
Before the latest evacuation warning for Khan Younis was issued, more than two-thirds of the Gaza Strip was already under displacement orders or in Israel-militarized zones, according to the United Nations .
Palestinians make their way with belongings as they flee their homes after the Israeli military issued orders for evacuation from Khan Younis Image: Hatem Khaled/REUTERS
UN officials have previously described the mass displacement of civilians within Gaza as a possible war crime.
Israel's latest siege of Gaza has drawn pointed international criticism. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, whose country has been a critical mediator between Israel and Hamas, said Israel's "irresponsible, aggressive behavior undermines any potential chance for peace."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also warned in a joint statement on Monday that "we will not stand by," threatening "further concrete actions" if Israel continued to block aid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back on Tuesday by saying the three leaders "are offering a huge prize for [Hamas'] genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 [2023] and inviting more such atrocities" by demanding Israel end its siege.
"This is a war of civilization over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved," Netanyahu said.
UN human rights chief accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
'Nights are the worst'
Back in Gaza City, Raed al-Athamna and his family are among those seeking refuge after fleeing from Beit Hanoun, a town close Israel's border. It's the second time they have been displaced; the first time was shortly after Israel launched its war against Hamas in retaliation for the Palestinian militant group's October 2023 attacks in Israel.
At the moment, al-Athamna's nights consist of moving from one corner of his apartment to another in an effort to keep safe.
"We hear the F16 fighter jets bombing all the time. Sometimes they hit very close by and the ground shakes," he said on Monday in a call with DW. "The nights are the worst right now. We just hope to make it to the next morning," he said, adding that his family was exhausted from not being able to sleep.
His family spends their days searching for food and other supplies, draining the last of their energy.
"We haven't had bread for eight days," he said. "We had one meal of cooked lentils [on Monday], but the kids are constantly asking me for more food; they're always hungry."
He said more people are crowding into the city, with tents appearing everywhere.
"People just don't know where else to go," he said.
This tent camp in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday Image: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images
Edited by: Kate Hairsine