Thousands of Palestinians flee Israeli bombing of Gaza City

Gaza [Palestine], September 15: Thousands of Palestinians are being displaced each day by Israel's indiscriminate carpet bombing of Gaza City, which is killing dozens of civilians daily, with families fleeing south towards an uncertain fate in the repeatedly attacked and overcrowded Al Mawasi.
More than 6,000 people were forced to leave the besieged city on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence, as the Israeli army continued its relentless bombardment of the area. Some 900,000 Palestinians are currently left in the city, but the number is decreasing rapidly.
Khalil Matar, a displaced Palestinian fleeing south, said: "We keep moving. There are sick people with us, and we don't know where to go. There are no safe zones."
Many of those who are leaving the north are heading on the forced evacuation threats of the Israeli army to Al Mawasi camp, where conditions have been described as beyond dire, crowded, and under-resourced even before the latest mass displacements.
Reports from Al Mawasi, which is often struck by Israeli strikes despite being a so-called "safe zone", suggest that new arrivals are struggling to find space to pitch their tents.
Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary, reporting from the Al Mawasi, said the scenes there were "very chaotic" as more and more families arrived, with their belongings placed by the side of the road.
"For almost a whole week, we've been trying to figure out a place to shelter in. I have a large family, including my children, my mother and my grandmother," one displaced Palestinian man told Khoudary.
"Not only are missiles pouring down on our heads, but famine is devouring us too," he said.
"Displacement is as painful as eviscerating one's soul out of the body. We don't know where to take refuge," he said.
"It's called a safe zone, but we have been living here for months and we know for sure that it's not safe," he stressed.
Meanwhile, at least 48 people killed since dawn on Sunday as artillery shelling and gunfire by Israeli forces reported in Gaza City, as well as shelling from boats, the medical sources said.
Source: Qatar Tribune