The harrowing account of a CNN journalist and his family fleeing north from Gaza City to the south of Israel has been described as a “glimpse into the desperate situation faced by countless other Palestinians”.
The journalist, Ben Wedeman, told CNN how his family had to make a desperate dash from their home in the Gaza Strip after repeated attacks by Israeli forces.
The family managed to make it to the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Gat, but not before they had been forced to endure further bombardment and an Israeli military incursion into a Gaza neighbourhood.
Wedeman recounted how his three children, aged 10, nine and seven, were shaking with fear during the ordeal.
He said: “We were all scared, even though for the most part I was trying to stay calm and use it as an opportunity to explain what was going on to my children: why we had to leave, what was happening.
“It was an experience I never wish on any other parent or any other child,” he said.
Wedeman said that they had felt the only safe place was in the south of Israel, but that even there would not be safe from Israeli airstrikes or shelling by Hamas.
He added: “The fear is widespread – no one feels safe anywhere.
“It’s really depressing because all the people of the Gaza Strip are basically looking for a safe area, but there is no safe area.”
