Jumana is just one of many young people trapped inside Gaza. For months she has documented her family's attempt to escape to safety. This is her story.
Jumana's desperate journey shows how more than half of Gaza fell into a state of ruin in the Israel-Gaza warEvery red square on this map of Gaza represents buildings that have likely been damaged or destroyed in the Israel-Gaza war since October 7.The heaviest concentration of destruction is here in Gaza City.Here, on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, used to be the home of Jumana and her family.
Jumana and her family were granted temporary visas to Australia sponsored by their uncle in Sydney in December last year, but were unable to get out of Gaza before the visas expired on March 2. On October 7, Hamas militants carried out a terrorist attack on communities in Israel, including at the Supanova music festival, killing around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians. A further 250 more were kidnapped.
Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza intensified, with places of worship, medical facilities, schools, and residential areas destroyed. It was a perilous journey. Death was everywhere. Rats swarmed abandoned buildings and corpses were strewn among the rubble.On November 12, they pitched a plastic tent at Al Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.It wasn't just because of the patchy internet access. She also struggled with the idea of documenting the terrible situation they were in."We were barely getting any water … There was so much shelling and destruction. We saw yet again, a lot of death.
Videos filmed here by Jumana show rows of makeshift tents draped in plastic and children walking down a dusty track.This time moving deeper into Rafah, to an apartment in a location the ABC has verified but chosen not to disclose. The small hospital is only intended for 240 patients, but, according to reports, thousands arrive everyday seeking treatment in its overcrowded corridors. Many succumb to their injuries due to lack of medical supplies.Gaza's border with Egypt is tightly-controlled. To get across, Jumana and her family are relying on the Hala Consulting and Tourism company.The family has to pay Hala $US5,000 a person, a figure that has risen from $US1,200 in the last few months.
Ultimately the decision about who leaves Gaza is up to Israel, which controls security at the crossing.
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