What life is like for displaced Palestinians in Rafah's tent city
Ahmad Ismael said his "whole world turned upside down" after Oct. 7.
The Palestinian father of four now lives with his family in a tent in Rafah, the southernmost region of the Gaza Strip. They are among the almost 1.9 million people -- 85% of Gaza's population -- who are displaced from their homes, nearly half of whom are crammed inside Rafah.
"We want the tragic situation we are living in to end," Ismael told ABC News in an interview Sunday. "We hope from God that the war will stop."
Ismael said Israel's intense bombardment forced him and his family to flee their home in northern Gaza. They have been living in Rafah's tent city for the past 70 days, he said.
"We fled with only our souls," he told ABC News. "We didn't bring anything with us."
Ismael showed ABC News around his family's makeshift shelter and explained what life is like there amid the latest outbreak of war between Israel and Gaza's militant rulers, Hamas.
"People wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning," he told ABC News. "You wake up to think about the situation of the tent. Is there water flowing or not? Because of the rain, how will we provide wood for the fire? How will we provide today's food for the children?"
Ismael said they receive some canned food from a U.N. agency's warehouse every two or three days. But it's not enough to feed his family, so they must try to buy other food and cook it over an open fire.
"Everything is expensive and scarce," he told ABC News. "We used to buy this oil for 7 or 6 shekels. Today, I buy this for 20 shekels. One day you find it and the next day you don't."
"Firewood is also very expensive, not cheap, and even I can no longer afford it," he continued.
"What I'm telling you is not just about my life," he added, "but the lives of all of us here."
-ABC News' Rashid Haddou-Riffi, Morgan Winsor and Sami Zayara
