Evacuation order

Ten months have passed since the Israeli genocide in Gaza began. No words can describe the pain, the suffering, the loss, the cruelty, the dehumanization, the powerlessness, and the helplessness we feel. Possibly the most devastating aspect for us Palestinians currently in exile like me is the sense of powerlessness and our inability to console our family members and loved ones in Gaza, who are being subjected to literal genocide. Last night, the Israeli genocidal army issued an evacuation order targeting designated territories in the middle areas of Gaza, including entire refugee camps and half of another refugee camp. These camps already host hundreds of thousands of displaced families, enduring non-stop movement, displacement, and pain over the past ten months. Again, no words can describe the troubling feeling of entrapment and powerlessness.

What can we say to console them when they tell me:

"Ayman, we have been tested to the limit. We are exhausted and cannot do it anymore. We wish a rocket would take us to eternity. Life is disgusting." 

These are their words, reflecting the level of cruelty and dehumanization they have been subjected to for the past ten months—and it is ongoing. My family has been displaced multiple times. Each displacement experience is harsher than the last. From out of Gaza City, I recall my mother describing the waves of displaced Palestinians as images of the Nakba—the 1948 catastrophe—but apparently, it is a hundred times worse. It is displacement compounded by genocide and unimaginable levels of cruelty and dehumanization in their literal sense in Gaza.

A picture circulated among Palestinians in Gaza showing the refreshed Israeli evacuation order.

The basic wish for people is for the bombing to stop so they can have a little bit of sleep—a sleep that is not disrupted by armed surveillance drones and the sound of tanks and missiles. My family, like all families in Gaza, continues to experience this entrapment, abuse, starvation, and dehydration while still trying to survive this genocide. They watch as their neighbors' bodies are fragmented, disintegrated, and broadcast live on TV. Families witness the destruction of every aspect of their lives, from education, health, and culture to stories and memories, continuing to be abused.

Israel must be held accountable. This genocide, oppression, and abuse must end. People deserve to live without systematic abuse and dehumanization. I am sharing this not for sympathy but for documentation and justice.