'We don't have anything': Desperation grows for Palestinians stranded in Gaza
With supplies again running low and few safe places left, international calls for renewed truce are growing
The only way Isam Hammad can describe the situation at the Rafah border in Gaza is "deadly."
That includes a plethora of desperate people looking for refuge — in any place they can get their hands on.
"They are taking refuge in every place, every metre," he said. "Even in an empty space, they are putting [up] plastic sheets and sitting in the cold under it. Trying to take refuge in the streets, in the mosques, in the shops, in everywhere.
"Add to that the lack of resources now, it's absolutely horrible."
The Rafah border crossing is the solitary crossing point from Gaza into Egypt. As the situation in Gaza grows more desperate, it plays a vital role in getting out civilians like Hammad — and five of his children, still in Gaza.
Hammad, an engineer and regional manager of a medical equipment company, is at Rafah attempting to leave Gaza. He has 37 family members at the border with him.
Among them are an adult daughter with three children, whose husband was killed during the war, and his 93-year-old father, who has mobility issues.
But his priority is getting his five youngest kids out.
His eldest, who has cerebral palsy, was born in Ireland and holds Irish nationality. Hammad went to school in Ireland, and the Irish government has said he can seek refuge there with his wife and his two youngest children, but it cannot accept the two of his other kids, who are over 18.
As of Thursday, two of the three younger children have appeared on Ireland's list of evacuees from Gaza. But Hammad, his wife and the third child have not. He says they will wait to cross the border until all of them are on the list.
He hopes they can take refuge in Egypt and make their way to Ireland, then bring over the oldest two of the five children or find somewhere else to reunite with them.
WATCH | 'No safe place' left in Gaza:
The way out of Gaza is both difficult and complicated, says Hammad.
"You have a crossing point, which takes about seven or eight hundred persons every day only," he said. "So if you want to get 100,000 persons from Gaza, how many days do you have to do that?"
'A chaotic situation'
According to Hammad, necessities like food, water and medical supplies are impossible to find in Gaza.
"We don't have anything," he said. "We don't have even Pampers for the children. Milk — we don't have milk for the children, for the babies.
"One of my relatives, they had a baby during the war. ... It's something very bad."
There are increased calls from the international community and organizations worldwide for a renewed truce.
Dr. Christos Christou is the president of Médecins Sans Frontières International, the humanitarian medical care organization known as Doctors Without Borders in English.
He is now back in Geneva after spending some time working in Gaza — where he realized there was no safe place for Gazans.
"The situation in Gaza, in southern Gaza at this moment, is mirroring what we've been witnessing in northern Gaza the previous weeks," he said. "It is a chaotic situation.
"People are living on the streets and they have to move every day seeking safety, let alone also seeking ... medical care that is not available in most of the places where we are at the moment."
The last temporary truce was a breath of fresh air, even if it was just for a few days.
"We were able to at least move some of our surgical supplies and medical supplies in," he said. "We were able also to assess the situation in a few of these hospitals, and see how we can function again and how we can strengthen their capacity.
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"It is impossible at this moment to deliver any humanitarian aid," he said.
"These people need food, water, fuel, electricity. And what we see, it's outrageous. It's inhumane."
According to him, more than 70 per cent of Gaza hospitals — and almost all of the hospitals in the north — are unable to function.
Debating where people should go
Iddo Moed is Israel's ambassador to Canada. He says the Israeli government doesn't rejoice in the death of civilians and is attempting to avoid high numbers of casualties.
Rather, he insists Hamas should be responsible for keeping people safe during Israel's attacks.
"They have not prepared a centimetre of shelter for the whole population," he said. "And the United Nations should take care of their people, so ask them."
Recently, Christou addressed a letter to the UN Security Council asking for a sustained ceasefire and a lifting of Israel's siege on Gaza, which has left millions without food, water or basic necessities.
On Monday, intense Israeli airstrikes hit southern Gaza, including areas Israel had told people would be safe places to take shelter.
But Moed says he doubts the reality of a siege in Gaza, and says that civilians have been informed where they can shelter safely.
"And that's where they're going," he said. "I think that, that is the only way to fight a terrorist organization that use humans as shields.
"We are forced into a war we have to win."
Corrections
- This story has been updated to correct the birth order of Isam Hammad's children.Dec 08, 2023 4:12 PM ET
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Audio produced by Benjamin Jamieson