In the sweltering heat of a makeshift tent, Hanadi Al-Shandaghli sits with her children, waiting for the single meal they manage to share each evening. Around them hangs the shadow of a looming Israeli military operation aimed at seizing Gaza City and forcing residents southward. For Al-Shandaghli, who has endured nearly two years of war and loss, the idea of leaving is unthinkable. “We stayed through the worst bombardments, why would we leave now?” she says. “Life in the tents is no life, but this is still our home. If death comes, we will face it together.”

Her resolve is echoed by Abu Mohammed Al-Deeb from Shuja’iya, a neighbourhood devastated early in the war. He recalls rejecting calls to flee during the first wave of displacement and has no intention of changing course. “Leaving Gaza would be like removing the soul from the body,” he says, describing his city as a place rebuilt by its own people after each assault. “We are more entitled to it than those who try to erase us. The only way forward is to end the war, not to scatter its people.”

The determination of families like theirs comes as Israel’s security cabinet approves a plan to take full control of Gaza, beginning with the occupation of Gaza City and the relocation of nearly a million people. United Nations figures show that most of the Strip is already under Israeli military control or evacuation orders, with warnings that any further expansion will have catastrophic consequences. Even in the face of such threats, many here remain steadfast, insisting that no force can drive them from the place they call home.