A 47-year-old father of four and husband of B'Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd from al-Shuja'iya neighborhood in Gaza City, spoke on 23 October 2023 about the difficult living conditions in a makeshift refugee camp on UNRWA grounds in Deir al-Balah:
My family and I left home on the first day of the war. We moved from house to house, staying with different families, until on 19 October 2023 we decided to move to the UNRWA center and set up a tent there. When we arrived were already crowds of people there, more than 1,000, most of them in tents.
We brought with us four iron rods, which we stuck in the ground and attached blankets to. There are six of us plus my wife's sister, in a tent covering about three square meters. We didn't have anything to lay on the ground, so I went to the market and managed, with difficulty, to buy some blankets. We spread them out on the ground and slept on them. There are no pillows and nothing to use for cover. We couldn't really sleep because of the cold. The next day I bought some more blankets, and we cover ourselves with them.
On the first day, we couldn't get hold of any food and the people in the tent next to us gave us some. The next day, UNRWA gave each us a piece of pita bread and salami. The following days we received the same, plus a tin of tuna and jam. It’s not enough and we all stay hungry. The children, in particular, are scared and hungry.
We don’t have enough water, either. UNRWA provides water tanks but it’s not enough, so we buy bottles.
There are only ten toilets here, three of which don't work, for about 1,000 people in the camp. We stand in line for over an hour to enter one. The toilets are also very, very dirty, so we prefer to hold back and not go. Obviously, the women and children suffer from that a lot more.
Today I decided to go buy pita bread. When I got to the bakery at around 10:00 A.M., there were already hundreds of people in line. Some told they’d been waiting since 5:00. I left and went to another bakery. I stood in line and after an hour or so, managed to buy 15 pitas, which is barely enough for one family meal.
* The testimony was given over the phone to Kareem Jubran, director of field research at B'Tselem
Muhammad's brother lost his wife and five of his children and was injured on 7 November 2023, when a house he was sheltering in with his family was bombed. Read the testimony of Rami Khalil al-Sheikh.