GAZA: Omar Ashur became a refugee during the “Nakba” or “catastrophe” experienced by Palestinians following the Zionist entity’s creation 75 years ago and now fears the ongoing bombardment of Gaza will again force him into exile. A retired general from the Palestinian Authority security forces, 83-year-old Ashur lives in Al-Zahra in central Gaza where Zionist missiles flattened an area of more than 20 buildings late on Thursday.

Many residents had raced into the street with no idea of where to go. When they returned in the early hours of Friday morning, they found a scene of devastation, with several blocks of buildings reduced to smoking ruins and rubble, an AFP journalist said. The area lies about 10 km south of Gaza City where Zionist warplanes have focused their fierce bombardments since Hamas militants stormed into the Zionist entity on Oct 7, beginning an attack that has killed at least 1,400 people.

Although the Zionist entity urged Palestinians living in northern Gaza to head south ahead of an expected ground operation, Ashur decided to stay. Beyond the ongoing bombardment, he also worries about the future,

fearing the war will push Gaza’s residents — two-thirds of whom are refugees — to flee again. “What’s happening is dangerous,” Ashur told AFP. “I fear that the ongoing destruction has a clear aim, so people don’t have a place to live which will spark a new Nakba,” he said, referring to the 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel’s creation.

Gaza’s population of 2.4 million is largely made up of descendants of those refugees. Ashur was just eight when he and his family fled in 1948 from Majdal — what is today the Zionist town of Ashkelon — to Gaza. And for him, the ongoing war brings back painful memories. “What’s happening today is much worse. At the time, (the Zionist entity) would shoot to kill and force people to flee but the current situation is more horrific,” he said.

The Oct 7 attack was the most deadly attack on Zionist soil since the state was founded. Since then, more than 4,300 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed in relentless Zionist bombardments, according to Gaza’s health ministry. At least a million Gazans have been displaced by the ongoing bombing campaign, the UN says, with the Zionist entity also cutting off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food to the impoverished enclave.

Gazing at the destruction in Al-Zahra is Rami Abu Wazna, his haggard face struggling to take it in. At least 24 buildings were razed, an AFP journalist said. “Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this could be possible,” he whispers. Thousands of residents who had fled the neighborhood spent the night trying to find shelter from dozens of Zionist strikes. “Why bomb us, we’re civilians! Where will we go? Everything is gone,” Abu Wazna said. “We heard our grandparents speak of the Nakba and today we’re the ones living it,” he continued. “But we won’t leave our land.”

Among the ruins, Umm Ahmad and her two sons are trying to salvage a few of their belongings. “We’ve had a hellish night. The sky was red, everything was destroyed,” she says, her robes covered in dust. “We didn’t take anything with us. I’m trying to find clothes for the children so they don’t get cold,” she says. “They want to make us homeless.” – AFP