Despite Israeli crimes, why are Jabalia's residents refusing to evacuate their homes?

For the twelfth day in a row, the Israeli army continues ground and air attacks on the northern Gaza Strip, encircling the city of Jabalia and some of the surrounding areas, and exacerbating the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians trapped there.

Speaking to The New Arab, Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip said that the Israeli army continues to commit "massacres" against the civilian population in Jabalia by targeting them with warplanes, drones, and artillery shelling.

They added that the Israeli army is preventing civil defence, ambulance, and medical personnel from reaching victims, most of whom are lying in the streets, which has led to the dozens of wounded people dying.

The government media office in Gaza said in a statement that "the Israeli army is committing massacres against the Palestinian population in northern Jabalia in order to displace them towards the south."

"The Israeli army is besieging 200,000 residents in Jabalia and preventing them from food, drink, medicine, and even movement [...] Everyone is targeted in Jabalia," the statement added.

Implementing 'the Generals' Plan'

On 6 October, the Israeli army announced the launch of another military operation in Jabalia under the pretext of "preventing Hamas from regaining its strength in the area," hours after a fierce attack on the eastern and western areas of the northern Gaza Strip, the most violent since May.

The Israeli army ordered Palestinians to evacuate their homes in Jabalia and the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia and head south, while the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza warned citizens against responding to this, considering it "a deception and a lie."

This is the third ground attack carried out by the Israeli army directed on the Jabalia camp since the beginning of Israel's genocidal war on 7 October 2023.

For its part, the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that the current Israeli army operation is a small and preliminary implementation of the initiative of Major General (retired) Giora Eiland, who proposed transferring approximately 400,000 of the remaining Gaza residents in the northern Gaza Strip, especially in Gaza City, to the southern Gaza Strip through inspection and examination at the Netzarim corridor in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

In early September, Eiland announced what he described as the "Generals' Plan" to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip of its residents.

Despite the Israel army's attacks, the residents of Jabalia are refusing to flee and head to the southern areas of the Gaza Strip, making it difficult for the army to achieve its goals, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

Preferring death rather than displacement

In separate interviews with several Jabalia residents over the phone, they expressed their preference to die rather than suffer displacement to the south, since no where is safe in Gaza and Israel attacks indiscriminately. 

Um Ahmed, a resident of Jabalia refugee camp, told TNA, "The Israeli bombing has not stopped for a single minute and drones are chasing everyone in the area, but we are trying to hide in the remains of our homes."

"I could have fled with my family as we have done dozens of times in the past, but every time we did not find safety, and we did not return food or water [...] We are experiencing the same suffering but in a different place, so why should I leave my home?" she said.

"I want to die in my home, and I don't want to leave, and if we leave, we won't survive either [...] So let our death be honourable instead of dying fleeing, scared, hungry and homeless," she added.

To keep her five children alive, she relies on a few canned food and leftover bread that she has been saving for a while.

"The food I have is enough for a few days, so I try to make it last us at least three weeks by feeding my children a little food just to keep them alive," she lamented.

"This is not heroic on our part, but we were forced to find alternatives to face our fate [...] Everyone left us alone to face a criminal racism and Nazis army, and we will face it through our stubbornness and staying in our homes. This will make the occupation, and its soldiers know very well who the invincible Palestinians are," another resident of Jabalia camp, who preferred to remain anonymous, told TNA.

"We do not have weapons or missiles, but we have the determination, will and faith that we are innocent civilians. If we live, we have defeated the Israeli army, and if we die, we will go to Allah [God] and complain about everyone who participated in this war against us," he said.

"The steadfastness of the Palestinians in Jabalia and their refusal to follow the Israeli army's orders to evacuate thwarts the implementation of 'the Generals' Plan' to empty northern Gaza of its residents," Hani al-Masri, a Ramallah-based Palestinian political expert, told TNA.

"The difficulty of evacuating the residents will push the Israeli army leadership to realise that it is not confronting Hamas fighters, but rather the will of a people who cling to their land and dignity, and no matter what crimes they commit, they will not be defeated, even if their operation continues for many months," he said.

"The steadfastness of the residents of Jabalia will be a real inspiration in all areas of the Gaza Strip," he insisted. "After a year of Israeli massacres, all Palestinians have come to believe that the Israeli army has no limits or logic in its military operations and does not differentiate between civilians and soldiers, and therefore they will prefer to confront it with their thin bodies and strong will."