There are only 30 kilometers between Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip and Sderot in Israel. And yet there are worlds apart between these two theaters of the Middle East conflict.
Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip: Dozens of people wait for bread in front of a bakery. They wave and hold out banknotes to the seller through a window to get a plastic bag full of flatbread. Umm Abdullah Abu Riziq is lucky. But the bread isn’t enough.
“It’s tragic. I have seven homeless families in my home. I’ve been standing in line since seven in the morning. That’s not enough. We need the bread for the children, not for ourselves. I can’t eat anything in this situation anyway.” says Riziq.
Hundreds of thousands of people have come to the south from the north of the Gaza Strip. They are fleeing Israeli army attacks on Hamas targets. As in the past few days, the military has published an escape route that will not be bombed.
Repeated rocket alarms in Sderot
Sderot is a good 30 kilometers northeast of Khan Yunis. Around 30,000 people normally live in the city in southern Israel – in the immediate vicinity of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has been firing rockets from there for days. It wasn’t until the morning that another one hit.
The Israeli authorities have therefore asked the remaining residents to seek safety. One of them is Yossi Edri.
“The children don’t sleep”
“It’s not easy here. The children are traumatized. They don’t sleep,” complains Edri. Edri gets into one of the waiting buses with his daughter in his arms. They are supposed to take people from Sderot to hotels in other parts of the country. The state covers the costs. It is an offer from the authorities, no one has to leave their home.
Shimrit chose this. She has a small rolling suitcase in her hand and a backpack on her shoulder. Your daughter has a stuffed monkey in her arms. “We’ve been going through this for several years. My children don’t know any different. But we carry on like this.”
It quickly becomes clear why the people are fleeing Sderot: there are rocket alarms again. Here near the Gaza Strip, people only have a few seconds to get to safety. This time an interceptor missile neutralizes the Hamas missile.
No clean water for five days
30 kilometers southwest of Sderot – back in Khan Yunis. A queue has formed in front of a mosque. People line up with canisters for clean water – like Eyad Aqel. “I came here to get clean water because there has been no water in my house for five days.”
There is some hope for him. According to the US government, Israel has restored water supplies to the south of the Gaza Strip. The lines are open again.