A new wave of displacement is sweeping Gaza as families are driven from their homes in Gaza City and the north under relentless bombardment. The roads south are choked with lorries piled high with mattresses and furniture, alongside families travelling on foot beneath the searing sun. Each step southward is a reminder of what has been left behind, homes that may already lie in ruins.

At al-Nuweiri hill in central Gaza, the exhausted arrive in droves. Some collapse at the roadside, others set up fragile tents on beaches or in fields, carrying only fragments of their lives. Elderly people stumble, the sick falter, and children cling silently to their parents, eyes wide with fear. “I only brought the essentials,” said Abu Abdullah, who fled his neighbourhood after receiving a threatening call from Israeli forces. His tent now faces the sea, but even there he feels no safety.

The journey is perilous, with broken-down trucks, scarce fuel, and constant shelling adding to the torment. Aid workers and volunteers offer food and water, but the need far outstrips what little can be provided. Journalists documenting the mass flight do so at great personal risk, aware that media workers too have been repeatedly targeted. For the displaced, there is no destination, only the endless cycle of flight and survival under a genocide that shows no mercy.