Refuge

Since the leaflets were dropped over Northern Gaza and parts of Gaza City yesterday afternoon, around 10,000 people have become displaced. We expect the numbers to rise dramatically in the coming days.

Today, we visited the New Gaza Boys Preparatory school, an UNRWA school on Nasser Street, where 1,800 people have taken refuge.

We spoke to Mahmoud al Attar who is now living in a small classroom with 36 members of his family. Here is a narrative of his experiences over the last 24 hours.

Mahmoud's granddaughter, Maram, is four years old, the girl in the red jumper. When I kneeled down beside her sleeping baby brother, she immediately launched herself into my arms and gave me the warmest, tightest hug I have received since I arrived in Gaza. It was all I could do not to cry. She clung to me, then looked up at my face, smiling.

For the next while, as long as I was in the classroom, Maram was constantly at my side, holding my hand, clinging onto my legs, and smiling (though she looks serious in this photograph).

Her cousin, Thawra, who is three, is on the left. She has a black eye and some cuts on her face from three days ago. She tried to run when a missile struck near her home but fell down, hurting herself.

The older children were entertaining themselves by drawing pictures on the chalkboard. Sadly, these pictures showed tanks, shells, warplanes, and a man with his leg cut off. The loss of innocence is nothing short of tragic.

My friend took more photographs of the school, which show the poor conditions in which so many people are now forced to take refuge.