Israel vs Hamas Live: Blinken calls for protection of civilians in Gaza

Palestinians refer to it as the Nakba, or “catastrophe." An estimated 7,00,000 Palestinians, a majority of the pre-war population, fled or were expelled from what is now Israel in the months before and during the war, in which Jewish fighters fended off an attack by several Arab states.

The Palestinians packed their belongings, piling into cars, trucks and donkey carts. Many locked their doors and took their keys with them, expecting to return when the war ended.

Seventy-five years later, they have not been allowed back. Emptied towns were renamed, villages were demolished, homes reclaimed by forests in Israeli nature reserves.

Israel refused to allow the Palestinians to return, because it would threaten the Jewish majority within the country's borders. So the refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6 million, settled in camps in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Those camps eventually grew into built-up neighbourhoods.

In Gaza, the vast majority of the population are Palestinian refugees, many of whose relatives fled from the same areas that Hamas attacked last weekend.

The Palestinians insist they have the right to return, something Israel still adamantly rejects. Their fate was among the thorniest issues in the peace process, which ground to a halt more than a decade ago.

Now, Palestinians fear the most painful moment from their history is repeating itself.

Farsakh, of the Palestinian Red Crescent, said some medics refused to abandon patients and instead called colleagues to say goodbye.

“We have wounded, we have elderly, we have children who are in hospitals,” she said.

Al Awda Hospital struggled to evacuate dozens of patients and staff after the military contacted it and told it to do so by Friday night, said the aid group Doctors Without Borders, which supports the facility. The military extended the deadline to Saturday morning (October 14), it said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it would not evacuate its schools, where hundreds of thousands have taken shelter. But it relocated its headquarters to southern Gaza, according to spokesperson Juliette Touma.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hellhole and is on the brink of collapse,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's commissioner general.

Families in cars, trucks, and donkey carts packed with their possessions crowded a main road southward from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes hammered the territory on Friday (October 13). Hamas' media office said warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more than 70 people.

The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people abducted in Hamas's assault on Israel nearly a week ago.

In urging the evacuation, Israel's military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. But Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza's people out through the southern border with Egypt.

Hamas told people to ignore the evacuation order. Families in Gaza faced what they saw as a no-win decision to leave or stay, with no safe ground anywhere. Israeli strikes have levelled large swaths of neighbourhoods, and Gaza has been sealed off from food, water and medical supplies — all under a virtual total power blackout.

“Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only concern now is just if you'll make it, if you're going to live,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, as she broke into heaving sobs.

“She has been spending sleepless nights at the Negev, a large desert region in southern Israel, as the region is in close proximity to Gaza,” T Ramesh, an associate professor and Head of the Department, TNAU, said.

“For three days since Saturday she had to seek protection in a shelter. At present, Radhika (his wife) is safe and she is being provided food and water," Ramesh told PTI, and added that the raging war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas is causing her stress. “She is very anxious to return home and our 13-year-old son, who is also apprehensive, wants to see his mother back home safe,” he said.

He said the Indian embassy had already contacted her and assured to process her request at the earliest.

Radhika, a PhD holder in Agronomy, left for Israel on September 23 to attend a two-month government of India sponsored training programme at the Ben-Gurion University. Both she and her husband have been in constant touch with the governments of Tamil Nadu and the Centre since the war began.