Hundreds of thousands flee 'horrific' Israeli bombing in north Gaza

Middle East Eye

19-05-2025

Youssef Halawa, 38, tried to calm his 66-year-old mother, Sawsan, as she grew increasingly anxious about the unusual drone activity and the rumble of tanks in northern Gaza - signs she feared pointed to an imminent Israeli ground invasion.
At 11pm that day, on 14 May, he went to bed. At 1:30am, a series of intense Israeli air strikes targeted a cluster of homes in their neighbourhood.
'The door next to my room blew off and collapsed on me,' he recalled. 'I thought we had been directly hit, until we heard the screams outside - people calling for help. Dozens of our neighbours from the Khalil and Abo Aisha families were killed. Many are still trapped under the rubble of their homes.
'My relatives and many neighbours, including myself, rushed to help, but most of the people were already dead.'
Two hours later, back at the house, Halawa and his neighbours heard a faint whimpering from a nearby air shaft. At first, they thought it was an animal.
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'It was Siwar Khalil, a two-year-old baby from one of the destroyed houses. She had flown over 20 metres,' Halawa said.
'We checked her pulse, gave her first aid. Her grandfather carried her and rushed to the hospital, but she succumbed to her wounds the next morning.'
'I will never forget'
Despite the horrific night, Halawa and his extended family refused to leave the area. They had nowhere to go.
Halawa's house in al-Sheikh Zayed neighbourhood was destroyed by Israeli attacks in 2023. He, with over 20 relatives, had evacuated to his brother Mohammed's tiny 60-metre flat in the same area.
'They turn your house into your grave in the blink of an eye'
- Youssef Halawa, northern Gaza
The following night, at almost the same hour, another Israeli air strike hit the home of the al-Tatri family nearby.
'The sound of the air strikes wasn't like before. It was the most violent and deafening bombing I've heard since the beginning of the war,' Halawa said.
'I'm afraid of blood and usually avoid it, but when it's my neighbours being bombed, I rush out without thinking to help.
'I will never forget the scenes, the beheaded bodies, the carnage. At least 24 people from the same family were killed. Many remain buried under the rubble.
"We had to carry the wounded for kilometers so ambulances could reach them, because they wouldn't come any closer due to the risk of further air strikes.
'They turn your house into your grave in the blink of an eye.'
'But first, let us live'
Halawa and his family didn't believe they would survive that night. They prayed constantly, expecting to be bombed themselves at any moment.
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What he feared most wasn't death, but that if something happened, no one would be there to help. The medical system has collapsed, as have the civil defence and municipal services.
Halawa used to comply with Israeli expulsion orders, hoping it would protect his family. But as the bombings in his area came without warning, he no longer believes there is safety anywhere in Gaza.
On Friday morning, under intense artillery shelling, Halawa and his relatives divided themselves into groups and fled the house, without knowing where to go.
He first took shelter for a day in a crowded tent belonging to a relative in the al-Naser neighbourhood, then moved to another family tent on al-Sarya Street in central Gaza City.
'We've been slaughtered live for 18 months, and the world still hasn't acted. No one truly feels our pain. I'm angry. I'm disappointed,' he said.
'We don't need food parcels or humanitarian aid after the destruction. We just want this war to stop. We want someone, anyone, to stop this genocide. We've lost enough. We'll rebuild Gaza ourselves, stone by stone - but first, let us live.'
'Why do they want to kill us?'
On Sunday, Israeli forces announced a new military operation in northern Gaza via social media and by dropping leaflets from the air. In response, hundreds of thousands fled south to central Gaza City, while renewed bombardment left hundreds dead, wounded, or trapped beneath the rubble.
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Nisreen Abu Libda, 49, had been sheltering with her family of 11 in a classroom at Abu Zaytoun School in the Jabalia refugee camp after their three homes in different areas of northern Gaza were destroyed and bulldozed in 2024.
But since 14 May, she has been suffering panic attacks due to the intensifying bombardment and loud repetitive explosions, especially at night.
Her children and husband try to reassure her, telling her that a ceasefire deal may be on the horizon between Hamas and Israel. Still, she remains terrified of another Israeli incursion, having stayed in northern Gaza throughout the war and witnessed last year's brutal offensive.
Abu Libda packed the few clothes she had salvaged from the rubble and told her family to be ready to flee the school at any moment.
'How can I believe in a ceasefire when Apaches are hovering overhead and the shelling never stops?' she said.
'We live in constant fear. Every night, I wonder whether we'll survive until the morning.'
Her four-year-old granddaughter, also named Nisreen, clings to her throughout the day.
'She keeps asking, 'Why do they want to kill us? When will they stop bombing?' She wants to know if we'll evacuate.'
Nisreen and her 55-year-old husband, Hassan, both suffer from chronic illnesses including hypertension and diabetes - but there's no longer access to proper medicine. The constant fear only worsens their health conditions.
She said her heart races from fear and sometimes she feels like she's going to collapse. To her, each new ground invasion seems worse and more violent than the one before.
'Every night, I wonder whether we'll survive until the morning'
- Nisreen Abu Libda, Gaza City
The family stayed in the school until heavy bombardment forced most people to flee. On Thursday, 15 May, they decided to leave. They feared being surrounded or killed without anyone knowing they were there.
'Some people are still sheltering at the school,' Abu Libda said. 'They're ready to flee at any moment, but still hoping for news of a troop withdrawal or a ceasefire.'
To avoid burdening anyone, she and her family split up, scattering across several relatives' tents throughout Gaza.
'We are lost,' she said. 'We don't understand what's happening, or if it will ever end. My greatest fear is that they'll force us to leave Gaza. I won't. I love Gaza. I'd rather die than leave it.'
'Many homes were burning'
Dima Adssi, 28, and her family of seven had been living in a tent over the rubble of their destroyed home in Jabalia camp. They had refused to leave northern Gaza, until artillery shells began landing nearby and shrapnel tore through their tent.
Like Adssi, many in northern Gaza had resisted leaving the area for a long time. But with intensifying bombings, nighttime massacres, and the constant sound of tanks and quadcopters, they felt they had no choice but to flee.
'Every night, the sound of Israeli drones hovering and tank movements is terrifying,' she said. 'The explosions were getting closer and closer to our neighbourhood. We couldn't even step out of the tent to see what was happening.
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"I feared we were already surrounded by Israeli forces - but luckily, when we fled, they were still a few kilometres away.'
Before leaving early on Saturday morning, Adssi and her siblings planned their evacuation: who would carry documents, medicine for their sick mother, some canned food, a few items of clothes, and who would guide the children.
But their plans vanished when they saw flames a few kilometres away, toward eastern Jabalia.
'Many homes were burning. The shelling was closing in. We had to flee on foot, along with many of our wounded neighbours,' Adssi said.
'We left in fear, taking nothing with us, after our neighbours were hit. Others carried them to the hospital on a horse cart.'
It took three hours before they reached a relative's crowded home in al-Naser Street, in western Gaza City, where they now wait, unsure of what to do next.