For Palestinians Trapped in Gaza, There Is No Way Out - 10/13/2023

1. looming ground assault
   • ex1) the looming threat of social unrest.
   • ex2) he almost expected to see Jason's looming figure suddenly appear.
2. wary that militants will join civilians and create security problems for Egypt
   • ex1) dogs that have been mistreated often remain very wary of strangers.
3. Israel's military said that it aims to topple Hamas 
   • ex1) she toppled over when I touched her.
   • ex2) Winds and rain toppled trees and electricity lines. We lost our balance and toppled over onto a table. 
   • ex3) disagreement had threatened to topple the government.
4. during a cross-border raid last weekend
   • ex) a bombing raid
   • n./v.) sudden attack on an enemy by troops, aircraft, or other armed forces in warfare.
5. Israeli official has cut off supplies of food, fuel and water to the enclave
   • ex1) they gave troops a week to leave the coastal enclave.
   • ex2) the engineering department is traditionally a male enclave.
   • n.) a portion of territory within or surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct. / a place or group that is different in character from those surrounding it.
6. He discussed the possibility of safe passage with Israeli officials during a visit and would pursue the topic in coming days with other countries.
   • ex1) the police are currently pursuing several lines of inquiry into the case. 
   • v.) try to discover information about a subject or topic.
7. Israel's intense bombing campaign has already triggered a frantic search for safety in Gaza.
   • ex1) she was frantic with worry.
   • ex2) frantic attempts to resuscitate the girl. (resuscitate: v. revive from unconsciousness or apparent death)
8. Of the more than 338,000 people who have fled their homes, (v. flee-fled-fled)
   • ex1) a man was shot twice as he fled from five masked youths.
   • ex2) he was forced to flee the country.
9. They found themselves under bombardment on Sunday.
   • ex1) an aerial bombardment will precede the attack.
   • ex2) a steady bombardment of emails and phone calls.
10. She leapt over the counter to grab their passports. (v. leap-leapt(leaped)-leapt(leaped))
    • ex1) I leaped across the threshold.
    • ex2) Polly leapt to her feet.
    • ex3) a coyote leaped the fence.
11. Witnessing others lose theirs in the chaos that ensued.
    • ex1) the difficulties that ensued from their commitment to Cuba.
    • ex2) After his outburst, a long silence ensued. 
    • ex3) Chaos ensued when 60 charter schools run by one company were all suddenly closed.
    • v.) happen or occur afterward or as a result.
12. She returned to her relatives' home where the question of how to evacuate lingered. 
    • ex1) she lingered in the yard, enjoying the warm sunshine.
    • ex2) she lingered over her meal.
    • ex3) the tradition seems to linger on.
    • v.) stay in a place longer than necessary because of a reluctance to leave. / spend a long time over (something) / be slow to disappear or die. 
13. How do we try to leave when the shelling is still going on?
    • ex1) the gun started shelling their positions.
    • ex2) the shelling went on for hours without pausing. 
    • ex3) they were shelling peas. 
    • v.) bombard with shells. / remove the shell or pod from (a nut or seed).
    • n.) (in war) the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area rather than hit a specific target. 
14. including a "deep hole" in the ground on the Gaza sied, created by Israeli projectile in recent days.
    • n.) a missile designed to be fired from a rocket or gun.
    • adj.) relating to a projectile missile or object.  ex) a projectile weapon 
15. making access to the crossing virtually impossible. 
    • adj.) that cannot exist or be done; not possible. (almost/virtually/nearly impossible)
16. especially with the imminent collapse of health services and utilities in Gaza.
    • ex) they were in imminent danger of being swept away.
    • adj.) about to happen.
17. Egypt called on relief organizations to fly supplies into the city of al-Arish in Egypt's North Sinai region.
    • n.) any nonprofit charitable organization which devotes its resources exclusively to the relief of the poor, distressed or underprivileged.
18. A sense of insecurity permeates the entire Gaza Strip, residents say. 
    • ex) the aroma of soup permeated the air.
19. Israeli bombing has hit 18 U.N.-run schools since the offensive began.
    • ex) an impending military offensive against the guerrillas. 
    • n.) an attacking military campaign. 
20. The Israeli military has said that it has a reduced capacity for precision strikes because its forces are stretched thin.
    • adj.) don't have enough time or enough money to do what you want. / not have sufficient resources to carry out tasks, have too much work./ lack of focus / to engage in so many activities that one can't perform any of them well. 

For Palestinians Trapped in Gaza, There Is No Way Out

Gaza’s two million residents, trying to survive airstrikes, face a humanitarian crisis and looming ground assault

Palestinians and foreign nationals in the Gaza Strip—which is running short of electricity, food, fuel and water—are trying to flee to safety ahead of an anticipated Israeli ground invasion but are finding there is nowhere to run.

International pressure is building on Egypt to open its border crossing with Gaza to a potential exodus of its two million residents. Egypt’s government has resisted easing border restrictions for years, wary that militants will join civilians and create security problems for Egypt and arguing that an exodus could threaten the integrity of Palestinian territory. 

Israel’s military said Thursday that it aims to topple Hamas as the ruling entity in Gaza in response to the group’s mass killing of more than 1,300 Israelis, many of them civilians, during a cross-border raid last weekend. Israeli officials have warned entire neighborhoods in Gaza to abandon their homes and has cut off supplies of food, fuel and water to the enclave. 

“We are working closely with Egypt and Israel to see if we can develop safe-passage options so that those civilians in Gaza who want to leave can leave safely,” White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby told The Wall Street Journal. “This isn’t their fault. They didn’t cause this. And if they want to leave, they should be allowed to leave.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that he discussed the possibility of safe passage with Israeli officials during a visit and would pursue the topic in coming days with other countries. 

Complicating matters, Hamas officials have said in recent days that the group is reluctant to allow an evacuation of Gaza, arguing that it could mean permanent exile for Palestinians who leave.

“Opening a secure passage to force our people to leave their homeland for permanent death is not something our people and our resistance will agree to,” said Mahmoud Mirdawi, an official with Hamas’s political bureau.

Israel’s intense bombing campaign has already triggered a frantic search for safety in Gaza. Of the more than 338,000 people who have fled their homes, two-thirds have taken shelter in United Nations-run schools, while others are staying with relatives or in hotels. 

 

Rama Nasrawi, a 43-year-old Canadian mother of two, found herself caught in the Israeli bombing campaign during what was supposed to be a joyous reunion with family after 25 years apart. Nasrawi arrived in Gaza in early October to spend a few weeks with relatives in what was considered a relatively safe neighborhood in the center of the Gaza Strip. They found themselves under bombardment on Saturday.

With Israel declaring war following the attack, she attempted to leave with her two children through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. She was one of the fortunate few in Gaza with a foreign passport and permission to leave via the crossing, which is only open to those with a special permit from Egyptian authorities.

While officials were stamping their passports, Israeli warplanes bombed the border area. Screaming travelers fled for the exits. Nasrawi said she leapt over the counter to grab their passports, witnessing others lose theirs in the chaos that ensued. She returned to her relatives’ home where the question of how to evacuate lingered. The Israeli military hasn’t explained why it attacked the border crossing. 

“How do we try to leave when the shelling is still going on?” she said.

The World Food Program warned on Thursday that shops in Gaza will run out of food in less than a week. The strip’s hospitals are at risk of turning into mass morgues as they lose power, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“We are at breaking point,” said Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon working in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, saying his hospital had some 5,000 wounded, with only 2,500 available beds and no more space in operating rooms.

According to U.S. and Arab officials, the discussions between the U.S. and Egypt have focused solely around the potential for securing the safe passage of the 500 to 600 Americans in Gaza. President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s government’s had similar conversations with many countries looking to get their own nationals out of the war-torn territory, they said.

“The idea of opening Rafah for [all] civilians was not discussed,” one Arab official said. “The Americans were speaking with us only about the safe passage of Americans.”

However, Egypt has been unable to accommodate those requests for a number of logistical reasons, including a “deep hole” in the ground on the Gaza side, created by an Israeli projectile in recent days, two Arab officials said, making access to the crossing virtually impossible. Egypt had been able to send some humanitarian aid via Rafah in the first days of fighting, but Israel informed the Egyptian government that it would no longer allow passage, they said.

Beyond that, Arab officials said that Israel has so far been reluctant to approve the opening of the Rafah border crossing while it conducts retaliatory strikes following Saturday’s attacks. “There is little Egypt can do if Israel doesn’t also approve the opening,” one Arab official said. “These governments need to be asking Israel as well.”

Egyptian officials have said the government is expecting a large number of Palestinians to attempt to cross the border soon, which would raise the pressure on the government to back down. 

“I think the regime will come under public pressure to open the crossing and let Palestinians in when the number of those displaced by the conflict reach a critical point, especially with the imminent collapse of health services and utilities in Gaza,” said Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, a former Egyptian diplomat who is now a senior lecturer at Dartmouth College.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called on Israel to avoid bombing the Palestinian side of the crossing so that the terminal can function properly. Egypt also says it is working to send aid through the crossing and called on relief organizations to fly supplies into the city of al-Arish in Egypt’s North Sinai region.

A sense of insecurity permeates the entire Gaza Strip, residents say. Areas of Gaza that were previously thought to be relatively safe have come under Israeli bombardment in recent days. Israeli bombing has hit 18 U.N.-run schools since the offensive began, including two that are being used to shelter displaced people, according to the U.N. The strikes have also hit another 70 schools run by the Palestinian Authority, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Israeli military has said that it has a reduced capacity for precision strikes because its forces are stretched thin.

Awad Qistha, a 66-year-old Palestinian-American English lecturer at Al-Azhar University, fled his home in Rafah in southern Gaza at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, only to realize that he and his family had nowhere to go. The family returned to the garden of their house to wait out the bombing.

“Nowhere is safe,” he said.

Qistha, who has lived in Gaza since 2013 and has two children living in Houston, said he would consider leaving the strip if the border opens. “I have no plan but to give in to God’s will,” he said.