About 50,000 people are sheltering on the grounds of Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, in Gaza City. It is overwhelmed by a steady stream of wounded from airstrikes amid warnings that severe shortages of fuel, needed to power generators, could trigger a shutdown. No new fuel has been allowed into Gaza since the 7 October raid.
Many Palestinians are choosing to return north, tired of moving from place-to-place under Israeli fire as shelters become overcrowded and unliveable. UN monitors estimate 30,000 have returned.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have decided to stay in their homes in northern Gaza despite Israeli warnings that they face grave danger if they don’t move south.
They say evacuation doesn’t make sense considering the relentless bombardment of southern Gaza, where Israel has repeatedly urged the more than million residents of northern Gaza to seek refuge.
They face appalling conditions in overcrowded shelters and persistent shortages of food and water in the south. The presence of some 350,000 civilians in the northern area could further complicate a likely Israeli ground offensive.
