"We are not leaving"/ The desperation of Gaza residents who are defying the orders of the Israeli army

2025-09-07 18:16:22Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"We are not leaving"/ The desperation of Gaza residents who are
Gaza

When Israeli army leaflets fall from the sky, for Gaza residents it is a sign that they must abandon their homes.

Rosey, trapped in Gaza, films them from her apartment window as they fall over the smoke-covered horizon, “like sad confetti.” She reports that the Israeli army is asking residents to evacuate to al-Mawasi, but says with conviction that:

"I'm not leaving. If I die, I'll die in this apartment, not by running away or in a tent."

Other videos are also circulating on social media.

A man in front of the ruins of Mushtaha Tower addresses the world:

"We will die in Gaza, tell Netanyahu we are not leaving."

In another video, children tearing up leaflets and throwing them in the air shout: "We are not leaving!"

For many, the refusal to leave is not just resistance to occupation, but a painful decision after dozens of forced displacements.

Marco Sandrone, head of the Médecins Senza Frontiere project in Gaza, says that “mental health is collapsing and that evacuation orders are weighing on an already traumatized population.”

Many others have no choice, leaving is expensive.

Ahmed Ghazal, 30, tells Al-Jazeera:

"My house doesn't exist anymore. I'm collecting everything that can be sold, mattresses, blankets, pillows, to use for the move."

Ibrahim Al-Joumla, 39, also tells AFP that he was forced to flee from one neighborhood to another with his family, but he has neither money nor a way out:

"Even if we decide to leave, we don't have a penny. We're walking, we don't even know where to go."

Francesco Sacchi, Emergency's head of mission, says the road from Gaza to the south can cost up to $1,000, plus the rent of land to set up a tent.

“In al-Mawasi, which the IDF calls a humanitarian zone, no place is safe from the bombing,” he adds. Al-Rashid Street, the coastal road to Khan Younis, is so crowded with people, cars and tents that you can’t even see the sea.

However, despite the orders, fear, and staggering prices, the "great exodus" from Gaza has not yet begun.

Many residents have chosen to stay, openly saying that they will face death where they are, rather than live in the uncertainty of a fugitive with no return./ La Repubblica


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