There is little left that connects Palestinians in Gaza with their prewar existence. The contours of life have become darker and far more brutal, as if the population has been stripped from its past.
“Drones never stop buzzing overhead, gunfire and shelling continue almost daily and naval boats fire towards fishermen,” said 56-year-old Ahmed Baroud, a father of five currently displaced in Deir al-Balah.
Seventeen months after the war in Gaza began, and five months after a ceasefire was announced, airstrikes are still killing civilians, and the humanitarian situation remains dire. Health authorities said six people were killed and four others injured early on Sunday by an Israeli airstrike on the al-Mawasi area in western Khan Younis.
While the world’s eyes are fixed on Iran, everyday life in the streets and markets of the territory is fearful and drained of colour. People with exhausted faces queue for food and other supplies amid the ruins of destroyed buildings. Muddy waters course through displacement camps.
Displaced Palestinians walk through a waterlogged street after heavy rain in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians try to navigate a flooded street in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
“The situation has become even more strained since the war on Iran began,” said Baroud, reflecting a widespread view that the US and Israeli campaign against Tehran has resulted in even higher prices for food and other essentials.
Ibtisam Al-Kurdi, who lost both her sons in the war, said: “We are struggling to obtain firewood for cooking due to the closure of crossings and the lack of gas, which has led to a significant increase in its price.”
The 64-year-old, who is originally from Jabalia and is displaced in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City, added: “We can no longer afford vegetables or meat, and we rely daily on canned food and legumes, with a constant fear that famine may return.
“I hope that all of this will come to a complete end … that the bombardment will stop, and that our children will no longer have to live in constant fear of the sounds of drones and explosions.”
A fireball erupts after an Israeli strike near a tent encampment in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images
Cold temperatures and rain have lingered into spring, soaking the mattresses and flooding the floors of people living in waterlogged tents in displacement camps.
Even daily conversations are no longer the same. A student’s dream is no longer to achieve high grades or pass exams, but to earn enough money so their younger siblings do not have to beg in the streets, or to secure a couple of litres of clean water to quench their thirst.
On makeshift minibuses – trailers hooked up to 4X4 vehicles – used for public transportation, stories of loss begin and never seem to end. The road becomes an open space for confession, each passenger telling their story, as if in a race to establish who has lost more.
One man recounts spending everything he had on building the home of his dreams shortly before the war began. In quick succession his home was bombed then his wife and children were killed. Beside him sits a woman who has lost all her children and is struggling to raise her young grandchildren. Both radiate an unbearable grief.
Ibrahim Kaheel, displaced in Gaza City, said an already desperate situation had worsened since the US started attacking Iran. “After the war on Iran, food prices rose significantly and goods became scarce in the markets, and some prices are still continuously increasing,” the 34-year-old said.
Palestinians wait to receive food at a soup kitchen in Khan Younis. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images
More than 680 Palestinians have been killed since the October ceasefire, including 26 in the last week. Aid groups say broken infrastructure and inconsistent electricity have turned untreated sewage into a growing public health risk.
Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, says Kerem Shalom remains the only operational crossing for cargo, creating a major bottleneck for incoming supplies.
Kaheel said: “Water, which used to be available, now only reaches us two days a week due to a malfunction in the municipal supply line. It is often not suitable for drinking, yet we are forced to drink it.
“My mother suffers from cancer, and we struggle to purchase her medication from time to time.”
Palestinians wait in the line to fill containers with water distributed by tankers. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesDisplaced Palestinians struggled to obtain drinking water amid rainy weather in Nusairat. Photograph: Moiz Salhi/APAImages/Shutterstock
Doctors in Gaza said basic diagnostic tools, including biopsy needles, are simply not available. Patients arrive with clearly cancerous masses, yet medics have no means to take samples or carry out the tests needed to confirm a diagnosis. As a result, many patients are lost to the disease without ever being properly diagnosed or treated.
According to UN figures, before the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt reopened on 19 March for the limited movement of people, there were more than 11,000 cancer patients in Gaza requiring treatment outside the territory. The Gaza health ministry said more than 20,000 patients and wounded people are waiting to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Cogat, the Israeli army unit given the task of facilitating humanitarian operations in the occupied territories, said: “Since the beginning of 2025, there has been a significant increase in the number of residents evacuated via Israel for medical treatment abroad, as well as those holding dual citizenship.
“The Rafah crossing has been opened for the departure of patients and their caregivers to Egypt. The number of patients departing depends on the requests submitted by the WHO and Egypt, which are responsible for coordinating the arrival of patients from the Gaza Strip to the Rafah crossing.”
People mourn at the funeral of a three-year-old Palestinian child Iyad Ahmed Naeem Al-Rabai’a, who was reportedly killed by an Israeli airstrike at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images
It said that “data on the ground” indicated “a significant, stable and continuous volume of aid” was being delivered into Gaza, and “accordingly, there is sufficient food availability in the Gaza Strip for an extended period”.
