The true number of dead and missing in Gaza may be around 500,000, say military experts. With Israel deliberately blocking food and other supplies into Gaza, the World Food Programme estimates another 500,000 face starvation. Israel wants to create a “humanitarian city” at the southernmost end of Gaza, where it claims 600,000 people will be concentrated and given aid, but observers say this will simply be the last stop before the Palestinians are expelled from Gaza or killed.
In an article in dawnmena.org, Yahya al-Masri, a Palestinian writer in Gaza, reported comments from Gazans on what they want from ceasefire negotiations, and how they see the “humanitarian city.”
Bilal, a 30-year-old nurse, told al-Masri a real ceasefire “must mean an end to displacement, an end to hunger and a return to normal life.” Abu Samir Khalifa, a 66-year-old man from Jabaliya, said, “I haven’t eaten for days. I’m an old man—I cannot take all this.”
“Now, they want to push us into a fenced zone and call it safety? That’s not safety, that’s a trap,” said Ahmad, a 34-year-old teacher. Layla, a 22-year-old university student, said: “It feels like they want to erase us, not protect us. We want education, not cages. Our future is being stolen piece by piece.”
Al-Masri concluded: “…Gazans are not passive recipients of aid. We demand agency, memory and hope—just as any other person or community. Any ceasefire that does not center our voices risks repeating the mistakes of the past. Any solution that limits our freedom or ignores our needs will never bring lasting peace. This war has taken far too much. What we ask now is simple: Let it not take our future too. If there is to be peace, it must begin with respect for our voices, our rights and our humanity.”
