"In the south, I felt like a stranger. If exile feels this hollow inside Gaza, what would life abroad be like? I spent a whole month in a tent among the trees, haunted by the details of Gaza - its streets, its scent, its mornings. The most painful part was knowing that I was still in Gaza, yet unable to reach my own city. I was displaced by force, not by "choice": The tower I lived in was bombed twice. The situation was unbearable."
"Every night, I sat outside the tent asking myself: How can they keep me away from my home, my life, my place, and all my memories? I dreamed of returning to a place only about 25 kilometers (15 miles) away - and yet, it felt unreachable. I became a stranger in my own land. The day I was displaced to the south, September 23, was one of exhaustion and terror. Our area was heavily bombed, and when death began to close in from every direction, we decided to flee."
A Gaza City resident fled to Khan Younis in September after their residential tower was bombed twice, abandoning possessions and memories. Displacement felt like internal exile, with a month spent in a tent haunted by Gaza’s streets, scents and mornings. The resident experienced profound longing and helplessness, repeatedly asking how home and memories could be kept out of reach despite physical proximity. On September 23, heavy bombing and encroaching death forced a chaotic, ten-hour escape south. Travel was marked by fear, exhaustion and scarce transport; available vehicles were weak, overcrowded and prohibitively expensive because of soaring fuel prices.
Read at Truthout
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