As fighting rages on in Gaza, those who have been forced out of their homes say the situation is desperate.
Speaking to Reuters, Zayda al-Breem, says displacement is “somewhat bearable, but displacement and winter is unbearable”.
Al-Breem – originally from Khan Younis but now in Rafah, both of which are in the south – says she spends all night covering her children and bringing them closer to her. “It is difficult, very difficult.”
Another displaced Gazan, Yaser Abu Riyaleh, says he hasn’t bathed for a month. “At home I used to take showers four times a day and would spend most of the day soaking in the sea,” Riyaleh, originally from al-Shati in the north but also now in Rafah, says.
Alia Ghaban, from Beit Lahiya in the north, speaks of similar issues – but adds that her children became very ill.
“They got diarrhoea and vomiting, a cough and shivers, from the cold and rain, and the lack of clothes and covers,” she tells Reuters. “There is nothing, we are ill, our chests hurt because of the cold, there is no heat.”
