'From death to death'

Nowhere is safe for the displaced

- Malak A Tantesh

The bombardment of Gaza City has been growing louder and more deadly for weeks, but in the early hours yesterday it felt like an earthquake that would never stop.

"Even when the bombings are not right next to us, we can clearly hear them, and the ground shakes beneath us with the intensity of the explosions," said Fatima al-Zahra Sahweil, a 40-year-old mother of four.

Sahweil, a media researcher, said the dead and wounded from the night’s barrage had been taken to al-Shifa hospital, where she heard the situation was “catastrophic”.

She had lost track of the latest news, however, as she tried to make the near-impossible decision of what to do to protect her children.

Al-Rashid coastal road, the Israeli-designated “escape” route south, was jammed with desperate people. Anyway, the cost of a ride was too high.

“On top of that, I don’t own a tent to give us shelter and they are too expensive to buy,” Sahweil said. “I would not be able to take all of the belongings and supplies I have already bought several times before.