As the IDF ramps up its military campaign in Gaza's largest city, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are heading south. But those forced to evacuate tell Maira Butt that the supposed route to safety is putting their lives at risk

"Everyone used to say Gaza's beaches are the most beautiful in the world," says Soliman Hijjy, his voice weary after a relentless 27-hour journey to southern Gaza.

Along al-Rashid Street, which runs parallel to the Mediterranean, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are fleeing Gaza City as Israel ramps up its brutal military campaign. Beauty has given way to destruction and fear.

The only permitted evacuation route out of the city runs 14 kilometres down the coast of the Strip. Images show exhausted crowds carrying their belongings in makeshift bundles.

What was once a 10-minute walking route lined with cafes, restaurants, and houses has been reduced to rubble and takes hours to traverse due to overcrowding. The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has warned the road is "extremely congested".

"Children were crying, everyone was sweating and feeling fear," Qasem Jamil Qasem, a 23-year-old management student who took the route, told The Independent.

It took him and his family - including his 62-year-old father, 60-year-old mother, and his nephew's three children aged six, four and one - 13 hours to reach Deir-Al-Balah in the scorching 35C heat.

Qasem has sustained injuries throughout Israel's military campaign, including a bullet wound in his abdomen, leg injuries from perilous trips to aid distribution sites and the amputation of a finger.

But as the only able-bodied member of his family, he found himself carrying around 70kg of luggage, with each member of his family taking two heavily-laden bags each.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), around 350,000 people have escaped Gaza City, but the United Nations (UN) estimates that the number is closer to 190,000 since August. Over 60,000 people were displaced in a period of 72 hours earlier this week.

Evacuation is expensive, and costs around $3,200, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA). That includes transport, tent costs, and the price of land to pitch it on. Qasem's family walked for 8km and then paid $600 for a three-hour journey by car for the remainder of the route.

Meanwhile, Hijjy, one of the few remaining journalists in Gaza, told The Independent that some trucks can charge up to $6000 (£4,452) to make the trip. The 37-year-old travelled with two families who collectively paid their driver $3,500 to make the trip.

But thousands have no choice but to stay behind.

"Some people who couldn't afford to leave, told me: 'If Israel wants us to evacuate, they have to give us $5,000 to be able to realistically do so.' They told me: 'I can't leave. I don't have the money.' The war has been going on for 700 days, and there is no work so no way to get money."

He spoke to people incapacitated by injuries and illness who were unable to leave. Others, he said, didn't want to.

"They say Israel is bombing the south, the north and the middle. They can target us anywhere." The UN accused Israel of striking displaced people on Friday.

The Israeli army has promised to use "unprecedented force" in its ground invasion of Gaza City, urging citizens to leave to a "humanitarian zone" in the south. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to take control of the capital, which he says is a Hamas stronghold.

Human rights groups and aid organisations, including Medicins San Frontiere, have warned that the order amounts to "ethnic cleansing". Israel denies the charge and has labelled criticism of its operations - including a damning two-year investigation determining it is committing genocide against the Palestinians - as "false", "fake" and "libellous".

More than 90 per cent of Palestinians have been displaced, many of them multiple times, according to the UN. Over 65,062 people have been killed and 165, 697 injured since the 7 October, 2023 attacks by Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel.

Recent analysis by Acled (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data) concluded that 15 out of 16 people killed in Gaza since March were civilians. Classified data based on the Israeli military's own figures revealed that the death toll of civilians was as high as 83 per cent. Israeli officials have said they have killed 2 civilians for every Hamas fighter.

The sounds of Israeli bombs follows each Palestinian along the route. "You could only hear the sound of airplanes, shelling, and gunfire," said Qasem.

As The Independent spoke to Hijjy, the sound of Israeli helicopters and drones could be heard in the background.

"There is nowhere to rest along the way," he said. "This is Gaza. There are no coffee shops. Nowhere to buy some water or something to drink. No toilets. Children were using the sides of the roads."

A second route, Salah al-Din Road, was opened for 48 hours and promptly closed. However, Hijjy said it was an unfeasible option due to its poor quality in the midst of rubble and ruined buildings.

Omar Hamad, a 29-year-old writer and trained pharmacist, initially refused to leave. After being displaced countless times, he was haunted by his journey into Gaza City and resisted leaving again.

"It was like the roads of death in horror movies: charred bodies scattered on the ground, burned cars, and families walking in exhaustion," he said of the first displacement route he took in October 2023.

"The situation became more dangerous, and three massacres were committed inside the hospital. I carried, with my tired hands, pieces of flesh from 27 bodies. Then we were surrounded inside the hospital, and my cousin's daughter was killed by a shot from a sniper that pierced her heart. We buried her in the hospital yard."

He described another night while displaced in Rafah, where his brother's wife was killed while holding her child.

"On a moonless night, the army entered and began shooting randomly," he said. "My brother's wife was killed, holding her small child in her arms. We fled in panic, carrying in our hands only the blood of those who had died before us."

But Hamad, who went viral last week on Instagram for his attempt to save his extensive book collection, initially refused to leave again.

"When the bombing intensified, my mother begged me to join them," he told The Independent. "At first, I refused to leave, but the bombardment became unusually intense, so I took my bag on my shoulder and displaced myself.

"I walked a distance of no less than 15km on foot along the coastal road under the scorching sun. I stopped midway to pray the Dhuhr prayer, and then continued the journey. It was an exhausting and devastating day. It took six hours for me to walk."

Stalked by bombs and gunfire, Palestinians flee Gaza City on the 'road of death'