By Yakoota Al Ahmad
GAZA, Palestine (AA) - A Palestinian woman forced to migrate from the northern Gaza Strip because of the Israeli attacks and blockade said she and her family experienced fear and danger on routes designated by the Israeli army as a "safe passage corridor."
After the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas' military wing, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, Tel Aviv declared war on the Gaza Strip, which it has held under blockade for 17 years.
The Israeli army, after 42 days of intense attacks on Gaza, is instructing Palestinians in the northern Strip to move south through designated safe corridors.
Thousands of Palestinians, fleeing heavy bombardment, are trying to move to southern Gaza.
Intisar Rizk al-Arabid, a 48-year-old teacher in the Jabalia Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip, shared with Anadolu the fear and hardships she experienced during the journey from the north to the south.
Al-Arabid described facing difficulties and fears with her family during the journey.
She said due to the blockade and attacks, transportation in the north of the Gaza Strip was unavailable, forcing residents to walk long distances to central Gaza.
Al-Arabid, with a broken leg, shared the harrowing moments experienced in the northern region before setting out.
"The Israeli army bombarded three points in the north on our last night, one of which was the area where the Indonesian Hospital is located," she said.
"That night, 45 of us crowded into a 120-square-meter house. Our children were frightened, and fear also gripped the Jabalya Refugee Camp, prompting us to leave from there as well," she said.
She highlighted walking for an extended period with a broken leg she attributed to the intense bombardment rendering the roads unusable.
Al-Arabid, with her husband carrying her, said she fell numerous times. "Despite living in the Bureij Refugee Camp, I couldn't recognize it; the buildings were destroyed by bombing," she said.
She noted living in constant fear of death and described seeing dead, charred bodies, some in vehicles and on the roads, while Israeli snipers tracked those passing through “safe passage corridors.”
"In one corridor, my children and other men endured naked body searches and various humiliations," she said.
Al-Arabid described crawling through areas with snipers on building tops in the Israeli-designated "safe passage corridor." Later, she rode a motorcycle to reach the Nuseirat Refugee Camp.
She said she arrived in Deyr el-Belah from the northern Gaza Strip amid the fear of death.
"The horrors we experienced in the north are not even 1 percent of the fear we faced on the so-called safe passage corridors," she added.