DaysPal- Like thousands of other displaced Palestinian families, the 8-member Al-Boddi family has been sleeping for more than 70 days under the roof of a nylon tent, enduring harsh and cold weather.
The family initially believed that the tent would serve as their lifeboat during the winter season, enduring low-pressure systems and rain.
However, they soon realized it was a fragile vessel, sinking with the first rains brought by the recent low-pressure system affecting the Gaza Strip.
Al-Boddi family, like tens of thousands of others in the Gaza Strip, was forced to flee their hometown of Beit Lahia, in the northern coastal strip, to seek refuge in the Yarmouk Stadium in central Gaza City.
This displacement was caused by the ongoing ‘Israeli’ genocide, now entering its second consecutive year.
Hiam Al-Bodi, 54, told the Palestine Online correspondent: ‘The rain stormed into our tent, and water poured in from its roof.’ She added that she and her family had never endured such difficult circumstances as they have during this war of extermination.
The Al-Bodi family once owned a multi-story house in the town of Beit Lahia, but it was destroyed due to relentless bombing and demolition operations carried out by the Israeli army since the beginning of its extensive military aggression on the northern Gaza Strip in early October 2024.
Among the displaced family members are two granddaughters of Al-Bodi: four-year-old Hiam and her two-year-old sister Laila, daughters of the martyr Muhammad Al-Bodi.
Muhammad was killed in a bombing carried out by an Israeli drone that targeted a gathering of civilians in the town of Beit Lahia.
The girls’ grandmother said, ‘We are living in very difficult circumstances and need help to protect ourselves and our children from the winter cold. We now lack even the most basic necessities for a decent life and have no means to shield ourselves from the cold,’ Al-Boddi added, her face visibly marked by signs of suffering.
The Yarmouk Stadium, now transformed into a shelter center, hosts hundreds of tents housing displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip governorate.
The tragedy is not limited to the Al-Boddi family; the Warsh Agha family, also displaced from the town of Beit Lahia, endures ongoing hardship in the tents at Yarmouk Stadium.
Abeer Warsh Agha shared, ‘We fear the coming days and the low-pressure systems and rain they may bring, which could flood our tents again.
Abeer and her family live in two tents that shelter 16 people, including wheelchair users with mental disabilities.
She told Palestine Online, ‘The occupation forces forced us to flee from the shelter centers in Beit Lahia to Gaza City.
She continued, ‘The situation in the displacement tents is indescribably difficult. Our patients lack warmth, cleanliness, and proper medications, and we do not have the money to buy the necessary treatments.’
This has severely affected the patients with cerebral palsy, four individuals aged between 12 and 28. All of them have begun suffering from skin rashes due to the unsuitable conditions in the tents.
More importantly, we have become fearful of the rain, afraid it will flood our tents, our clothes, and the blankets we have,’ said Warsh Agha, her voice heavy with sadness as she looked at her family members
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