The courtyard of Um Ihab\u2019s family home in Jabalya, northern Gaza, once bloomed with citrus trees. <\/p>\n
On most weekends, dozens of relatives would gather for a birthday party or a university graduation. The Palestinian grandmother would decorate the house with gold streamers and multi-colored balloons, as white confetti poured from the ceiling. <\/p>\n
But when an Israeli airstrike demolished the house last winter, at least 30 members of the Ihab family were forced to flee the neighborhood where three generations had lived. Now, they are staying in a cramped tent in the yard of a displacement shelter in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, Um Ihab said. <\/p>\n
Over six months of war in Gaza, Israel\u2019s military offensive has decimated neighborhoods, drained essential supplies and caused severe hunger and thirst. Many Palestinians have been forced to seek refuge in outdoor tent camps, where they struggle to find enough food or water. <\/p>\n
For elderly Gazans whose lifetimes have been punctuated by war, the latest fighting has compounded years of suffering under partial blockade. These days, many find themselves marking death instead of celebrating life. Some, like Um Ihab, are desperately trying to hold their families together. But their age and poor health make daily survival even more of a struggle. <\/p>\n
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza on October 7 after the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, killed at least 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 others. <\/p>\n
As Israel\u2019s offensive in Gaza hits the six-month mark, <\/strong>international bodies and human rights advocates have called for an urgent and immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Human Rights Watch and Oxfam last month accused Israel of carrying out \u201cindiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in violation of international law\u201d and imposing collective punishments <\/strong>on the civilian population. <\/p>\n Approximately 111,500 older Gazans are among those most at risk of hunger, dehydration, illness, injury and death, HelpAge International reported in February. <\/p>\n \u201cWe used to live a dignified life. Everything was available,\u201d said Um Ihab. \u201cBut everything is gone now. No trees, no house. My son lost his house. I lost my house. My daughters lost their houses. Nothing remains.\u201d <\/p>\n Um Ihab plays with her grandchildren on the floor of their tent, where a toddler carries an empty milk bottle. They sing a song about stolen childhood in Arabic. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are not asking for much, we are asking for the bare minimum.\u201d <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s offensive has forcibly displaced at least 1.7 million people in Gaza, according to the UN. Palestinians who lived in traditional extended family homes before the war say they are crammed with dozens of relatives inside improvised shelters with no privacy. Makeshift tents constructed with large wooden poles covered in plastic sheeting are too flimsy to withstand winter weather. Grandparents beg on the streets because they cannot find enough food, water or infant formula for their families. Young children stay inside so they do not get lost in the chaos of the displacement camps. <\/p>\n \u201cIf he was at my house\u2026 he would have been walking in my garden,\u201d Um Ihab said of one of the youngest grandchildren. \u201cThese are the children of the future. What did he do wrong so he would be deprived from all the essential foods that he needs?\u201d <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s severe restrictions on aid entering Gaza have exposed the entire population of more than 2.2 million to the risk of famine, according to a UN-backed report. Virtually all households are skipping meals every day, the report said, adding that one in three children aged under two are \u201cacutely malnourished.\u201d <\/p>\n In March, UN rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk warned Israel\u2019s sustained restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza \u201cmay amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime.\u201d Israel insists there is \u201cno limit\u201d on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime means relief is barely trickling in. The Israeli bombardment has also severely damaged Gaza\u2019s critical infrastructure. <\/p>\n \u201cWater is very scarce\u2026 It\u2019s a big struggle, beyond what you can imagine,\u201d said Um Ihab. \u201cWe are hardly managing to feed the children\u2026 If I needed a loaf of bread, I would be begging for it because I need to feed my grandchildren. What else can I do?\u201d <\/p>\n Lentil soup is often all the family can afford in Deir al-Balah, where market supplies are thin and food prices have rocketed. On most days, Um Ihab says, the family cannot afford dinner. <\/p>\n Um Ihab\u2019s husband <\/strong>spent his final days hungry, sleep-deprived, in pain and physically exhausted. <\/p>\n About 12 years ago, he suffered a stroke that left him needing physical care. Um Ihab said she nursed her husband back to health by feeding him pureed food and taking walks in the sunshine. <\/p>\n But after Israel\u2019s bombardment forced them to flee south to the displacement shelter, his lack of mobility severely worsened, leaving him bedbound, according to Um Ihab. He developed pressure sores, which led to sepsis. He eventually died inside the tent from severe malnutrition, she says. <\/p>\n His story is part of a broader picture of suffering for his generation. Displacement shelters in Gaza are not equipped to support elderly Palestinians who require specialized care. And women of all ages face an increased risk of violence, exploitation and abuse, HelpAge International said. <\/p>\n They have \u201cless physiological reserve\u201d than younger members of the population, making them less able to tolerate dire living conditions and more prone to infection, said Rebecca Inglis, an intensive care doctor in Britain who regularly visits Gaza to teach medical students. <\/p>\n For older Palestinians, grueling displacement journeys on foot can compound the daily stress of trying to survive the war. Elderly Palestinians who struggle with mobility may be \u201cunwilling or unable\u201d to move from their homes, reported HelpAge International. <\/p>\n If hit by airstrikes, those who survive may be unable to pull themselves out of the rubble, she added. <\/p>\n In the weeks since her husband passed away in Deir al-Balah, Um Ihab says she has been haunted by the indignity of his death. <\/p>\n \u201cEveryone came, young and old, from Jabalya and outside Jabalya. They all participated in his funeral, despite the circumstances and suffering,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were forced to bury him here. <\/p>\n \u201cI wish he had died a normal death in his house with honor. His death was such a pain in my heart.\u201d <\/p>\n As Israel\u2019s military campaign pushes Gaza residents out of their homes, those inside the enclave fear they will meet the same fate as their ancestors. <\/p>\n Um Ihab says her mother fled historic Palestine during al-Nakba, or \u201cthe catastrophe,\u201d of 1948. At least 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes following the 1948\/49 war, in what is now Israel. They and their descendants <\/strong>say they have never known a life without the constant threat of Israeli invasion. Others are paralyzed by the grief of seeing their children\u2019s futures being taken away from them. <\/p>\n \u201cMy tears dried up from crying over my husband, crying over my kids,\u201d said Um Ihab. \u201cI feel like I will lose my mind\u2026 We try our best to make it easier for them and cheer them up. If they were at home, they would have their own toys.\u201d <\/p>\n Even before the war, Israel\u2019s partial blockade of Gaza made it harder for elderly Palestinians to access health and social services. At least 97% of older Gazans had at least one health condition and 86% had at least one disability, according to data from El-Wedad Society for Community Rehabilitation and HelpAge International in 2021. At least 78% reported that they felt anxious all, or most, of the time \u2013 and almost 27% of older Palestinians lived in poverty. <\/p>\n The Palestinian grandmother says she finds some respite along the beaches of central Gaza, where blue water licks the sandy shores. She tries to call relatives to let them know she is still alive. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I come, I complain to the sea, hoping that God responds to my fate and take us out from this pain,\u201d she reflected. <\/p>\n \u201cOur life was good and comfortable. We used to come to the sea to have fun and have good time, now we come to the sea to complain about our worries.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The courtyard of Um Ihab\u2019s family home in Jabalya, northern Gaza, once bloomed with citrus trees.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \u2018Water is very scarce\u2019<\/h2>\n
Elderly Palestinians less likely to survive privations<\/h2>\n
Years of trauma<\/h2>\n