What it’s like inside Gaza as mass evacuation order sparks chaos

“You can die anywhere here,” Maha said in a phone interview, speaking on the condition that she be identified by her first name to protect her safety. “But if they’re telling us to leave, that means they are going to be doing bad things to people.”

Her brother refused to leave, so she packed his five children in the car and drove south to a friend’s house. People moved by donkey carts, auto rickshaws called tuk-tuks, and cars, loaded with bags of clothing, mattresses, even a pair of cows.

“A tuk-tuk would be carrying 15 people,” she said. “People are running red lights, no one is stopping.” Eventually, they reached Khan Yunis, taking refuge in a two-story house with more than 30 other people.

The unprecedented Israeli evacuation order, delivered Friday by fliers, voice messages and on social media, has set off a desperate and chaotic scramble across this besieged territory. Israeli has dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Gaza since Saturday, and they are still falling, even as hundreds of thousands of people try to flee.

“In the following days, the IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City,” the Israel Defense Forces said Friday, adding that Hamas militants were hiding in tunnels beneath civilian homes and in heavily populated areas. “Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields.”

Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the strip and killed at least 1,300 people in a surprise attack on Israel last weekend, declared the evacuation order “psychological warfare” and called on Palestinians to remain “steadfast” in their homes.

The United Nations urged Israel to rescind the evacuation order, saying it could transform “what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.”

James Elder, spokesman for UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, described agonizing conversations with staff members in northern Gaza: “The word ‘impossible’ was used so many times, in terms of, ‘It’s impossible for us to do this, they are asking the impossible.’ I was talking to people through tears. These are resilient people who have been through a lot but are absolutely out of options.”

A 33-year-old woman in Gaza City, who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity for her safety, is staying with some 50 members of her family, including her elderly mother and father. She doesn’t know how she would evacuate them, even if she could find a vehicle.

“There are no cars to take us anywhere,” she said. “There is no gas in cars. Cab companies don’t have cars anymore. The streets are so, so, so, so crowded, it’s like it’s the Day of Judgement.”

More than 400,000 Gazans have already been displaced, many from communities near the Israeli border. They have sought shelter in U.N. schools, crowding into classrooms and sleeping on desks. But those too have been hit by airstrikes in recent days.

The bombing has been relentless around Maha’s Gaza City home. A building just 100 feet away was destroyed, rocking her with the shock wave.

“If I’m going to die, that’s fine, but I don’t want to live and see this,” she said.

Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, was packing to leave Gaza City with his wife and five children when The Post reached him by phone.

“People are evacuating but they have no place to stay, it’s total chaos,” he said. Their neighborhood of Rimal has already been almost completely destroyed by airstrikes. Still, Abusada had been planning to stay.

“I was hesitant to go, and I didn’t want to, but my family wants to leave,” he said. “I don’t really care what happens to me. But you feel for your family. There’s nowhere to go.”

Israel sealed its land borders with Gaza after the Hamas attack Saturday, and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt — the last remaining exit — has been closed for days after a series of Israeli strikes in the area. When it does reopen, only a small number of Gazans are likely to be able to cross to safety.

“People have been calling me all morning asking if I can help them find a place to stay,” said Wesam Amer, a university lecturer who lives in Khan Younis and is already hosting extended family members. He doesn’t know of a single building in the area that has space for more. And the people keep coming.

“There is nowhere,” he said, “and nowhere is safe.”

More than 1,500 people in Gaza have been killed since Saturday and more than 6,600 have been wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Medical facilities are on the brink of collapse.

Ten hospitals have been damaged since Oct. 7, including Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital. Northern Gaza’s only health-care facility in Beit Hanoun, which fully suspended services after repeated airstrikes on Oct. 9.

Outside al-Shifa, the injured are rushed into the emergency room covered in thick layers of dust. A young girl lifted out of an ambulance had deep shrapnel wounds running up her right arm and shoulder, suggesting that she tried to shield her face from an explosion.

Inside the hospital, doctors say they are running out of resources and fear they could soon be plunged into darkness. Israel has imposed a total siege on Gaza, cutting electricity and deliveries of fuel.

Airstrikes have also destroyed ambulances and killed at least 16 health-care workers, Palestinian officials say.

Medical supplies are rapidly running out as the demand for treatment has surged, according to a medical worker inside the enclave who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity to protect his safety.

Some suppliers are still able to deliver material, but are not willing to travel into Gaza City and other areas under heavy bombardment. Health officials are scouring warehouses for discarded beds and other broken equipment that might be usable.

“They don’t have enough rooms, the ICUs are completely full,” the medical worker said.

“Doctors will have to make decisions on who lives and who dies,” said Elder, the UNICEF spokesman. “When you’re talking about moving children with wounds of war or in the ICU — they can’t be moved, and that’s the demand.”

Israel’s military has vowed that its coming land invasion will destroy Hamas, saying the group’s attack last weekend had “unleashed the floodgates of hell” on Gaza.

“If this is the first phase, we are terrified of what the next phase will be,” Amer said.

George and Hendrix reported from Jerusalem and Dadouch from Beirut. Claire Parker in Cairo contributed to this report.