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Rafa’s exodus continues, but some say they are too tired and unable to move
More people are leaving Rafah for other parts of Gaza after Israel ordered civilians to leave much of eastern and central Rafah, but some are still too tired or sick to continue.
Hassan Abul Ainian, an elderly man, told CNN that he did not want to leave his home in the Shaboura refugee camp. He said, “But now I want to do it because there is no one left in the field. I want to see my wife and daughter.” “I’m going on foot. I don’t have money for a car. I also sent my wife and daughter on foot.”
Maher Soliman, who lives in the Shaboura refugee camp, said he did not know where to go: “Nobody supports us. There is only destruction. I left the house with a T-shirt.” Soliman said there is no safe zone. “My 15-year-old daughter’s entire body has been burnt. She was cooking when she was attacked in the adjacent building.”
Ayman Abu Negira, who was driving a car with a broken windshield, said he was headed toward Al Mawasi, an area northwest of Rafah, where Israelis have ordered people to leave. He said he hopes it’s a safe area, but he has his doubts. “They’ll probably attack around him,” Negira told CNN.
However, some planned to stay. An unidentified woman said, “We are not afraid. We are tired, but we are determined.” His store stands alone in an area which he says was filled with shops until a few days ago.
He said that it belonged to Khan Yunis. “I wish I could go home and I hope it’s still standing. I’m crying because I want to go home.”
The woman said that the situation was tense last night. “Even the water dispenser is afraid to come. People are afraid to come out of the shops to defecate at night because they are afraid of quadcopters (armed Israeli drones)… We all have hepatitis. There are many Infection in people”
The woman pointed to a scar below her ear, saying it was caused by a sniper’s bullet that broke her jaw while she was trying to take out her belongings near Nasir Hospital. “There was a window covered with a blanket and the sniper brought me here.”
“Why would they attack me? I was in a school. It was empty.”
His son, 18-year-old Raed Abu Salem, has a wound on his face that he says was caused by shrapnel from a drone strike in Khan Yunis while he was trying to get water. Many of his teeth were also broken.
When asked how he felt when he looked at his pre-war photos, she said, “He said how handsome he was.” Now his wounds hurt and he has to feed through a syringe.
His mother said that she is struggling to feed the children. “These children haven’t eaten. We don’t have fresh water.”