Thousands of people are leaving Khan Younis, as the Israel Defense Forces said they have surrounded the town amid new operations west of the area.
CNN video recorded Monday shows displaced people sitting on the side of the road and near the seashore as they head west and south. The IDF had ordered civilians to leave several districts in and around the city and head toward the coast, which it described to CNN as “safer.”
The video shows cars, trucks and tractors transporting families and their essential belongings, such as blankets, mattresses and food. Many, however, walk.
Hisham Sayegh He said he saw four people die, forcing him to leave with his family as shelling in the area intensified.
“There are dead people on the ground. We left them behind. There are dead people inside the houses,” Sayegh said. “We expected to die at any moment.”
Amer Son, from northern Gaza, said he was on the move for the third time. “Now we are once again displaced into the unknown. The bombardment lasted all night. “We woke up to a tank in our driveway this morning (Monday), so we left.”
Mohamed, a woman from Khan Younis, said she and her family are on the streets until they decide where to go, and they cannot afford transportation south to Rafah. “Vegetables, flour and water are expensive. There are no bathrooms. Nobody cares about us as if we were not human beings.”
“We have been on the streets for more than 100 days. Everywhere we go they tell us to leave, and here we are again and again in the streets,” he said.
AdelA woman from Gaza City told CNN that her family had been in Khan Younis and that her granddaughter died because “there was no oxygen or medicine for her.”
