Residents of Gaza’s northern and eastern borders are fleeing intense Israeli bombardment.
Families carrying supplies sought refuge in temporary shelters in central Gaza City on Friday, as Israeli artillery pounded northern Gaza in an effort to destroy a vast network of militant tunnels. The assault brought the front lines closer to dense civilian areas, potentially paving the way for a ground invasion.
Fleeing families arrived in pickup trucks, on donkeys, and foot at UN-run schools, carrying pillows and pans, blankets, and bread. Men carried large plastic bags and women carried infants on their shoulders as they crammed into classrooms.
Back home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, one mother who fled to a downtown school with her children said, “nothing remains for us.” Othman, her son, said he felt the family’s house “shake up and down,” and that “everyone was running.”
