Displacement journeys 💔🇵🇸

The forced displacement in Gaza is one of the harshest and toughest things people go through under occupation. Every time civilians are told to leave their homes, there’s no real guarantee of safety, and there’s nowhere truly safe to go. People have to carry their kids and elderly relatives, walking for hours—or even days—under awful conditions, sometimes even under bombing, just because the occupation decided their area is “no longer safe.”

The occupation doesn’t just use displacement as a temporary measure. It’s a systematic way to exhaust people physically and mentally. Palestinians are forced to move from place to place over and over, without enough water, electricity, or food, turning life into a daily struggle just to survive. It’s a form of collective punishment, meant to break people’s will and strip them of any sense of stability or safety. And every time people think they’ve found a temporary shelter, the occupation comes back and bombs it, starting the displacement all over again, as if the only message is: “You have no place here.”

I’m Amir, and I’ll tell you how I personally suffered from these forced displacements. My story started on October 9, 2023, when an Israeli officer called us and ordered us to evacuate immediately. At first, we refused, and he kept calling and giving orders for days, while over 80% of our neighborhood had already left.

Then, on October 11, rockets started falling massively out of nowhere, and I honestly don’t know how we survived! We had to leave quickly, without anything—no clothes, no supplies—just to save our lives.

Our first evacuation was to southern Gaza, specifically Rafah, because our area had become a dangerous combat zone. We stayed with my mom’s relatives for 4 months, and then we had to move again after the occupation declared parts of eastern Rafah as dangerous. We went to the middle of Gaza and stayed there for 3 months. Then, suddenly, we woke up to the news that western and central Rafah were being attacked, and we had to flee again, taking nothing, just to survive—this time to Khan Yunis.

Every new displacement made life harder. We had to rent houses over and over, and we couldn’t afford a tent or any safe place. My dad is sick and couldn’t live in a tent at all. When we finally returned to the north, our home was completely destroyed

, which made life even more difficult and expensive.

And today, the occupation is threatening to take over the entire north, which would force people to flee to the south again, continuing this endless suffering.

Displacement in Gaza isn’t just moving from one place to another. It’s a journey of pain that drains the body and mind, making daily life a struggle to survive, with constant fear and no sense of stability.