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The intense shelling across Gaza has grown progressively deafening and deadly over the past an extended period. During the pre-dawn hours on this past Tuesday were experienced as reminiscent of an tremor that would not stop.

“Even when the bombings do not occur immediately close to us, we still plainly sense them, and the ground shakes beneath us from the power of the explosions,” shared Fatima, 40.

She, working as a communications analyst, indicated that the deceased and injured from the evening's barrage had been taken to a major medical complex, where reports indicated “catastrophic”.

She had been unable to keep up with the most recent reports, though, as she tried to make the near-impossible judgment of what to do to best shield her four kids.

The designated “escape” road leading to the southern areas was congested with the exhausted and distraught. Additionally, the expense of transportation was too high.

“Besides, I don’t own a shelter to give us protection, and they are too expensive to purchase,” she added. “There's no way to carry all of the belongings and supplies I have already bought several times. There's also the struggle we would encounter in searching for clean water and the shortage of unoccupied areas to reside. So if I leave, I would just be heading into the unfamiliar.”

“Human nature desires consistency, where you can feel supported by a solid foundation and experience secure,” she stated. “A piece of fabric is not a dwelling: it does not give you protection, or the emotion of a home.”

In common with over 90% of people in the region, the family has been forced to move by the war. An vast large number have been obliged to move numerous instances. Fatima and her family have thus far been relocated 19 occasions.

Currently, with the commencement of a ground offensive, forces are calling on the approximate 1 1,000,000 people sheltering in Gaza City to move to the south once more. But she and her household, and countless families, have been to the south previously and are well aware it is not a safe zone from danger.

“It didn’t feel like daily living in any way,” she recalled of her time in southern Gaza during the early stages of the crisis. “Staying in a tent with pests, vermin, dirt, the heat of summer, the chill of the winter season, and the rain, it was an unbearable time.

“There isn't a single day without shelling and casualties in the south, even inside the purported protected spaces that the military announced. So, should I just be fleeing from destruction to danger? What difference would that achieve?”

This represents not feasible to calculate the likelihood of survival with so many details unknown. Her instinct is to not move.

Shared Predicament

Yousef, a thirty-two-year-old visual artist and video producer with two daughters and a son, is confronting the identical challenge. Taking refuge with relatives in a neighborhood of the city, the dangers of staying are evidently increasing sharply, but it is difficult to tell at what point not evacuating has become more risky than traveling into the unknown.

“Military aircraft and helicopters continuously striking. The previous night was horrifying,” he explained. “The bombing has persisted for the last several days. At intervals of three-quarters of an hour to an hour, there is a attack in the vicinity, by helicopters or warplanes or occasionally from heavy weapons.”

“I can't say I've ‘decided’ to stay, but the reality is, I have nowhere else to relocate,” he said. The family was evacuated to southern Gaza earlier in the conflict and he has no wish to head back.

“Officials claimed it was a ‘safe area’, but that was totally untrue. It was the contrary. There were constantly attacks happening there, and they are still happening,” he stated.

“Evacuation also exacts a psychological impact. Not anyone enjoys to be forced out. I believe there is no truly safe place in the area, whether in the north or the southern part, so we prefer to not move in the north. Death only arrives one time.”