Sixty-three-year-old displaced Palestinian Mohammed Felfel sits with 45 members of his extended family outside a damaged tent in central Gaza, near Nuseirat, with nowhere else to go after fleeing Gaza City's Zeitoun.

"We ended up living on the street; we left our land and homes," said Umm (mother of) Ayoub, Felfel's wife, on Friday (September 19).

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Gaza City since Israel announced on August 10 it intended to take control, but a greater number are staying put, either in battered homes among the ruins or in makeshift tent encampments.

Israeli tanks advanced along two gateways to the center of Gaza City on Thursday (September 18) while internet and phone lines were cut off for several hours, signaling a potential escalation in ground operations in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel says the offensive to take control of Gaza City is part of a plan to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The military has been dropping leaflets urging residents to flee towards a designated "humanitarian zone" in the south of the territory, but aid agencies say conditions there are dire, with insufficient food, medicine, shelter and basic hygiene.

The total Palestinian death toll from the two-year war surpassed 65,000 on Wednesday, according to the Gaza health authorities.

About 1,200 people were killed in the October 2023 Hamas attack and 251 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Displaced Palestinians fleeing Gaza City struggle to find shelter

VIDEO SHOWS: DISPLACED FAMILY LIVING IN DAMAGED TENT / SOUNDBITES FROM FAMILY MEMBERS

RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT.

SHOWS: CENTRAL GAZA, GAZA (SEPTEMBER 19, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PALESTINIAN, MOHAMMED FELFEL AND FAMILY MEMBERS SITTING IN THE STREET NEAR TENTS AFTER FLEEING GAZA CITY

2. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN, MOHAMMED FELFEL, SAYING:

"We left Zeitoun (neighbourhood) and went to Nabulsi. From Nabulsi, the plane announced to go to the south (of Gaza). For three days, we are in the car, and we can't find a place. We ended up on the street. No one is looking at us."

3. VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PALESTINIANS IN STREET

4. FELFEL STANDING IN STREET NEAR TRASH CONTAINERS

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN, MOHAMMED FELFEL, SAYING:

"The hitting (bombing)… we want to leave. I don’t know where they will take us at the end. This is not a life. This is not a life. This is death."

6. VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PALESTINIANS OUTSIDE TENTS

7. DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN AND WIFE OF FELFEL, UMM (MOTHER OF) AYOUB, STANDING WITH FAMILY MEMBERS IN FRONT OF TENT

8. BUCKET AMONG ITEMS

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN AND WIFE OF FELFEL, UMM (MOTHER OF) AYOUB, SAYING:

"We ended up living on the street; we left our land and homes. Everything was destroyed; it fell on us. We were in schools, and the schools fell on us. We fled from under death. What is our fault? Are we responsible for October 7, or are we Hamas? I want to understand, who among us is Hamas? Look, who among us is Hamas?"

10. WOMEN CLEANING

11. WOMEN SITTING, AMONG BELONGINGS

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN AND WIFE OF FELFEL, UMM (MOTHER OF) AYOUB, SAYING:

"These children… what is their fault? Are they Hamas also? What is their fault that they are (displaced) with us? Their lives have been lost; their education has been lost. In the morning, all they think about is (finding) wood and water, this is what we think about. This is what we live for."

13. VARIOUS OF WOMAN ARRANGING CLOTHES INSIDE THE TENT

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN, MOHAMMED FELFEL, SAYING:

"What have we done? What sin have we committed? What do we have to do with all this? What sin did we commit? We can’t find food; we can’t find water. Shame on you. Look at us, shame on you. May God take revenge on all of you."

15. VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PALESTINIANS STANDING OUTSIDE TENT

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN, MOHAMMED FELFEL, SAYING:

"Shame on you, we can’t find food. There is no money. We came on foot half the way due to lack of rent (money to afford transportation). Are we not human beings or are we animals? Let him just throw chemical weapons on us and relieve us. Truly he will relieve us."

17. VARIOUS OF WOMAN CLEANING

18. VARIOUS OF WOMAN HANGING CLOTHES

19. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN, MOHAMMED FELFEL, SAYING:

"If it rains, we will be soaked, and our children will die. We are sitting here in the street. If the Jews (Israelis) don’t kill us, the winter will, the cold. Shame on you—look at us, Arab countries!"

20. HOLE IN THE TENT

21. FELFEL STANDING INSIDE THE TENT WITH CHILDREN

22. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN AND WIFE OF FELFEL, UMM (MOTHER OF) AYOUB, SAYING:

"We want a truce to relieve us, and not for them to deceive us like every time. Sixty days (truce), and then we go back. It is for nothing, what they are doing is for nothing. We want a solution."

23. DISPLACED PALESTINIANS IN STREET

24. CHILD CRYING

25. FELFEL AND FAMILY MEMBERS SITTING OUTSIDE TENT