Where do the Gazans go from here?

With the Israel-Hamas War now stretching over a month and killing more than 10,500 Gazans and leaving several thousand injured, the Israel Defence Forces have now entered Gaza City with their onslaught.

Geographically, the 41-kilometre long and 6 to 12-km wide Gaza Strip, which is home to more than 2.3 million people, is surrounded by Israel on two, Egypt on one and the Eastern Mediterranean waters on the remaining side, paraded by the Israelis.

(In)Humanitarian situation

• Since the declaration of war on Gaza-based Hamas by Israel, the cramped Palestinian enclave has been facing a dire humanitarian situation.
• With Gaza's sole power plant being shut long back, and relentless and indiscriminate Israeli shelling, hospitals are struggling to treat the injured.
• Al Jazeera reported that the women and children are worst hit by the ordeal as they struggle to survive, with nowhere to escape.
• The hospitals, still operating, are also facing airstrikes every other day on the pretext of eliminating Hamas operatives and hideouts.
• The IDF has multiple times bombed the refugee camps, making life hell for the civilians who are already displaced.
• UNRWA says out of the 2.3 million Gazans, more than 1.5 million of them are internally displaced so far.
• Only six bakeries in Gaza are still operating as many of them were destroyed by the Israeli strikes.
• The amount of aid Israel has so far let into Gaza is a mere needle in a haystack and it stays adamant in doing so.

Israel put a blockade on the movement of goods and people to and from the "world's largest open-air prison".

In the face of the situation, one must be curious to know how Israel and the champion of democracy and human rights, the USA, are responding.

According to Reuters, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, on Wednesday, November 8, said, that once the war is over, Gaza should be ruled by the Gazans, while Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has a conflicting view. Netanyahu, on Monday, November 6, told ABC News that Israel will "for an indefinite period" have security responsibility of the enclave after the war.

Nonetheless, the discussions on the dire situation at hand or its results are missing.

If the Gazans could escape,

where to?

• Egypt, Gaza's only Arab neighbour, has repeatedly declined to accommodate the war-stuck Gazans. The North African nation cited its hesitation to populate the Sinai peninsula with the Gazans as they fear the resurgence of insurgency of sorts brewing in the region, which until the last decade had some amount of instability. The New Arab reported President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt categorically rejected the forced displacement, as internal and external pressure mounts on Misr.
• The other PLA-administered Palestinian-controlled enclaves of the West Bank and the Golan Heights in Northern Israel, separated by Israeli territory and settlements, might have been by Gaza's side in the adversary, but would not be able to take them in. They already have a bunch of challenges with slowly contracting lands. According to the UNRWA, the West Bank already has more than 8,71,000 refugees.
• Israel's northern and western neighbours, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, are ravaged by civil wars. UNRWA data suggests Jordan houses almost 7,00,000 Syrian refugees, making it the country with the second highest per-capita refugees.
• The UNRWA says there are more than 21,17,361 registered Palestinian refugees in the camps of Jordan. Likewise, Syria houses more than 5,28,616 Palestinians, and Lebanon is home to around 4,52,669 of them, affected by the multiple Arab-Israel wars.
• The Arab World, which stood by the Palestinian cause, is no longer looking to be fully involved in the 'mess'. Given their normalisation of ties with Israel over time and the ever-evolving geopolitical dynamics, they have criticised Israeli actions in Gaza but have been more or less silent on the fate of the trapped Gazans.

Surprisingly, Scotland in the British Isle has voiced its intentions to give asylum to the Gazans. 

The First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, on October 18, said, "We have welcomed those from Syria, from Ukraine, and many other countries, and we must do so again; Scotland is willing to be the first country in the UK to offer safety and sanctuary to those who are caught up in these terrible attacks."

But, how do the Gazans get to Scotland, around 4,000 kilometres from their home?