Rubble, death and help from strangers: What it's like to flee war-torn Gaza
As Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, displacing more than 80% of Palestinians living there, some are wondering whether they will ever be able to return to their communities.
Racing with his family to leave their home in Gaza City on Oct. 13 after warnings the area would become a military target, Naim Al-Khatib grabbed passports and whatever food was in the fridge. The public servant says relatives nearby "came barefoot, actually running on the street carrying small bags of important stuff and clothes."
"During the night, we heard all the bombing around us and it was very scary," said Al-Khatib, 55.
Cooking oil was being used to power diesel engines because no other fuel was available, filling the air with a pungent odor. He began traveling south in the Gaza Strip with his wife and five children.
"People are shouting in the dark, trying to get people out of the rubble. Those people are neighbors and friends," he said. "You feel that death is closing anytime."
He arrived in Nuseirat, where his in-laws live. They were already housing other people and would eventually provide shelter for more than 50 additional relatives and friends. When his family got there, Al-Khatib laid out what he had brought and offered it to the group.
Watch the video above to see more about this Gazan family's journey during the war
"There was a sense of cooperation, of caring, because you don't know what would happen to you," Al-Khatib said. "Today, you're receiving people, but in few minutes, you could receive a warning to evacuate the place and you would become the evacuee yourself, seeking refuge in another place."
More than 15,200 Palestinians have been killed since Israel started its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas' deadly border attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7. About 1,200 Israelis have died, most in the initial Hamas incursion.
LIVE UPDATES: Israel's Gaza bombardment targets crowded South
Al-Khatib calls the situation "very dire," not only because of the large-scale devastation, risk of disease and escalating death toll, but also, because of an uncertain future. Two of his kids were studying in university before the war. Now, those buildings have been destroyed.
The camera roll on his phone, once a collection of smiling faces and happy moments, now reveals photo after photo of destruction around his neighborhood.
In the first days after Hamas' attack, Israel told people in Gaza City and other regions in the north to leave. About 2 million people are crowded in areas of southern Gaza, including hundreds of thousands of people who fled earlier in the war.
Community unites in face of disaster
Many are in shelters or refugee camps, such as Aseel Mousa, a 25-year-old translator and freelance journalist in Gaza.
Mousa is currently displaced, living in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Before the war began, it was housing about 33,000 people in an area comprising only 0.2 square miles, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Now, the number of people seeking refuge there has grown exponentially.
With phone and Internet coverage severely restricted, frequent power outages and threats to journalists' security, Mousa communicated via Whatsapp to Paste BN. She says conditions are getting worse.
"The cold in this region is intense, and the displaced individuals from the northern Gaza Strip, housed in UNRWA schools (located within the camp), did not bring winter clothes," she said.
She said families living nearby are helping provide warm layers for those who have none.
"I observe people making every effort to assist one another," Mousa said, adding people were sharing power supplies from solar cells to charge their phones.
- READ: Why can't people leave Gaza?
- WATCH: 'Did we die?' A week in the life of a journalist in the Gaza Strip
Future 'keeps me up at night'
Al-Khatib, his wife and children eventually made it to the Rafah crossing; one of his daughters is a U.S. citizen and facilitated their evacuation to Egypt Nov. 6. He says 20 of his extended family members have been killed in the violence, including 10 children.
"I'm not sure I can get back to my normal life if the war ends tomorrow or if there is going to be a sustainable future for my kids," he said. "It's a tough question, actually. This thing keeps me up at night."
Still, he says Gaza is his home. And the only one he knows.