Israel strikes Gaza on Oct 7 anniversary, five dead: Officials

“BENEATH THE RUBBLE”

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people still live in tent cities and makeshift shelters that sprawl on beaches or next to piles of rubble from bombed-out residential buildings.

“We once had homes, but now we have lost our loved ones, whose bodies still lie beneath the rubble,” said Bassam Nasser, a resident of Beit Hanoun, a now largely destroyed city in Gaza’s north, who was displaced in the early days of the war.

Israel says it controls about 60 per cent of Gaza, on the territory’s outer perimeter including Beit Hanoun, while most of the Palestinian population lives in the remaining Hamas-controlled areas.

Though Israel eased its restrictions on aid trucks entering Gaza after the ceasefire, Ahmed Nasser, another resident of Gaza City, told AFP that life remained desperately hard.

“The war and the famine have left us hungry, fearful and displaced, living in tents and struggling with soaring prices,” he said.

Israel’s military offensive has displaced nearly the entire population of Gaza and killed more than 74,200 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Since the ceasefire was declared last October, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,460 people in Gaza, according to the ministry.