From Gaza to the West Bank, Palestinian families separated by bombs

She is frozen in a sleeping role, condemned to sleep in an enchanting setting. Located in occupied Palestinian territory, about ten kilometers south of Jerusalem, Israel, the city of Bethlehem no longer attracts visitors. The sanctuaries are empty, the Basilica of the deserted Nativity, the doors of closed souvenir stores.

Since the start of the war between the Hebrew state and Hamas which followed the massacre of October 7, 2023, the city lets itself be invaded by an oppressive, almost irrespirable atmosphere. The Mediterranean sun still floods limestone, cream or golden houses, which spread out on a landscape while hills filled with olive trees. A deceptive postcard decor. In the homes of the agglomeration of 30,000 inhabitants, where a Christian minority still lives, many families are going through deep personal dramas.

Bethlehem is in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory where war is deployed in a more insidious form than in the Gaza Strip. Here, the inhabitants do not know the intensive bombings but endure an increasing policy of discrimination, violence and restrictions from the Israeli army. For some Palestinians, suffering is twofold. Originally from Gaza, they await anxious news from their loved ones, whose life is threatened in the enclave.

Familée Families

This Wednesday evening in Bethlehem, Marsail, Palestinian teacher, is entering a Greek Orthodox church to pray with her daughter Shatha. With a slow and solemn gesture, it lights a candle, the plant in a receptacle covered with sand, then collects itself a long time in front of an icon of the Virgin. From Catholic confession, Marsail likes to go to this Byzantine rite place. “Marie called me, in my dreams, to leave Gaza to find refuge in Bethlehem,” she says. I listened to it and left a few years ago. She saved my life and that of my daughters. »»

Formerly, this mother lived with her husband and their three teenage girls in the city of Gaza, in an apartment located ten minutes from the sea. Summer and winter, the family enjoyed long walks on the beach, eating ice cream, whipped by the wind. But terrifying episodes of war between Hamas and Israel came to gang this happy daily newspaper, and bombs fell into the Gazaouies streets, without warning. Tired and worried, Marsail left the enclave in 2019 to visit his sister in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, thanks to the Christmas holidays. The moment of respite has turned into a final installation. Thanks to the support of Christian parishes, she was able to bring her three daughters – Haya, Hala Maria and Shatha.

Since 2007, the Israeli government has imposed a very strict blockade on the Gaza Strip, and its inhabitants must obtain an army permit to move. Authorizations are only given in drop, according to international NGOs, and the conflict has made almost impossible any passage outside the enclave. Youssef, the husband of Marsail stayed there, will probably never be able to leave the territory to join his.

TSAHAL, the Israeli army, intensifies its offensive on the land language with the operation “Chariots de Gédéon”. The situation is now apocalyptic. Since the start of hostilities, Israeli military actions have killed at least 53,000 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Ministry of Hamas, which the UN judges reliable. On May 27, 2025, again, 33 children were killed by a bombing on a school in the city of Gaza. About 90 % of homes are partially or entirely in ruins. “Our city building was demolished by the Israeli army bombs,” says Marsail. My husband is forced to take refuge in a church, with a group of neighbors who have rechecked the strikes. »»

Displaced populations

To keep in touch with Youssef, the family must show heroic patience. Shatha, 18, constantly watches over the WhatsApp mobile application the moments when her relatives in Gaza will have enough network to answer calls. “Sometimes we wait for weeks,” says the young woman. A few months ago, my father made a stroke and lost the use of speech. Now, I have to just see him on video and exchange with his entourage to find out how he’s going. »»

Too weakened, Shatha’s father can hardly flee his refuge in the event of an attack. A risky situation in the band, where residents must move each week to escape the bombings.

“Imagine for a moment what it is to have to carry all your luggage in hand, from home to house, without car!” Ibrahim moves, 67 and father of four children. This former journalist lives in the maze of gray and modest buildings of the Cisjordanian refugee camp of Dheisheh. The urban area houses descendants of families expelled from their land when the State of Israel was created in 1948.

Prevented circulations

“A few months ago, I lost one of my cousins ​​and his children in the bombing of the building where they were, in the center of the Gaza Strip,” he said.

His nephew has lost weight in half in a year and a half of war. “It is reduced to buying expired products in the markets, prices have exploded because foodstuffs are rare. Ibrahim must go through a trusted man to send money to his loved ones. At the start of the war, this intermediary asked him for a 3 % commission on his money transfers. Today, he claims 40 %to him.

Getting hell out and taking refuge in the West Bank is more than hypothetics. The Palestinian Authority, responsible for the West Bank administration, must obtain the agreement of the Israeli government to accommodate residents of Gaza on its territory.

Installed in Bethlehem for six years, Marsail and his daughters do not have refugee status. They therefore do not have the right to live in the West Bank and can be arrested and imprisoned at any checkpoint . The Hebrew state has multiplied these military control positions on Palestinian territory since the start of the war.

Officially, the army is advancing security reasons to combat Hamas activists. “In reality, it is a means of putting the population in step, by hindering their freedom of movement,” denounces Shai Parnes, spokesperson for the Israeli organization for the defense of human rights B’tselem, who documents the abuses committed in the Palestinian territories.

No city spared

Along with NGOs like Human Rights Watch, B’tselem has been alerting for several months to a process of “gasification” at work in the West Bank. “The command of the Israeli army now deploys the same military doctrine as Gaza,” says Shai Parnes. He widened the conditions under which soldiers can shoot real bullets, and any Palestinian with suspicious behavior can be killed. He also does not hesitate to destroy dwellings and electricity services, and has even made use of armed drones. In Gaza, the soldiers used the same methods, long before the war. »»

In fact, on January 19, 2025, the Israeli government officially took the objective of “securing” the West Bank, intensifying its anti -terrorist operations. At what price? According to the United Nations, the army has already led brutal raids, in northern cities like Jénine or Nablouse, and forcibly moved 40,000 Palestinians.

The UN also criticizes Tsahal for looking at the violence committed by Israeli settlers. According to his data, radical groups would have killed eight Palestinians between October 2023 and February 2024. While the colonies nibble at high speed the territory of the West Bank, extremists multiply acts of vandalism and intimidation to push the Palestinians to leave.

Bethlehem, supposed to be a spiritual refuge, is not spared by Israeli pressure. Since the 2000s, a thick concrete wall, nine meters high the cross. It marks the separation between Israeli and Palestinian areas. Posted in miradors, tsahal soldiers provide constant surveillance. It was since one of these heaks that a soldier would have killed a young Palestinian at the end, in November 2023. According to the inhabitants, the only wrong of Mohammad Ali Azya, 17, was to have lit a cigarette.

According to NGOs, such abuses have multiplied since October 7, especially in refugee camps. “The Israeli army takes us for terrorists because we are shaking the right to return to our lands and it has harass us since the start of the conflict,” says Ibrahim. If the continues to climb at this rate, I fear that we reach a break point similar to that of Gaza. »»