Extract from ABC News
"We did it," read a caption under a photo of Jumana holding up a peace sign in Egypt moments after escaping Gaza with her family.
The 19-year-old (nicknamed Jo Jo), her brothers, Tariq and Baraa, and their parents arrived at Sydney Airport last Monday.
Their flight landed just hours before Israel announced the beginning of a ground operation in Rafah, where they had been sheltering with more than a million other displaced Palestinians.
"We left just in time. We [are] safe now," Tariq told the ABC the day they arrived on visas sponsored by his uncle.
Just a few days after the family landed, Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, closing off the main crossing point for humanitarian aid and exit.
On Sunday, Israel sent new evacuation orders to tens of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, with about 300,000 Gazans already moving towards Al-Mawasi.
Tariq said news of the ground operation made their hearts sink as it was just luck and good timing that they were able to leave in time.
"We were lucky to have left Gaza when we did," Tariq said.
Over the past seven months, the ABC has been in contact with Jo Jo and her family, who shared their harrowing story of escape, navigating border bribes, expiring visas and homelessness.
During the first days of the war, the family was forced to evacuate their home, running from shelter to shelter in search of safety. They were displaced more than a dozen times. Family and loved ones were killed.
When they got word their home was destroyed, they headed to Rafah, which took them several days on foot and car.
In Rafah, the family-of-five shared one bedroom with relatives. They had limited food, and the search for clean water began daily at 6am.
Jo Jo and Tariq would often hide under blankets waiting for the sound of explosions to stop.
Once their visas to Australia were approved, Jo Jo created a social media account to help raise $US6,000 ($9,086) per family member to pay Egyptian officials to cross the border.
Even after paying the bribes, they were forced to wait over 90 days for their names to be called at the border crossing. By then, their visas had expired.
But their happy ending was nearing. After making it out to Egypt, they reapplied for their visas and were re-approved quickly.
Despite making it to safety, the family's memories of their escape are still with them.
Tariq said it was hard to imagine what it would be like living back in Gaza now.
"If we were there now, what would we do?" he said.
"We saw a lot of bad things.
"There is no bombing sound or anything that makes us scared here. We are safe."
Now living with their aunt and uncle in Sydney, the family says it has been bittersweet as the reality for many in Gaza is much more grim.
Dreams of 'Gaza's genius' crushed
In the southern city of Khan Younis, a 16-year-old programmer and one of Gaza's youngest university students, Noor Al-Din Felfel, lives with his family in tents.
Noor once had a bright future.
He received global recognition after teaching himself how to code, and was labelled "Gaza's genius".
But he says his hopes and dreams are slowly fading.
"The war began and all dreams were destroyed," he told the ABC.
"Here we are no longer dreaming, just trying to survive. Just trying to survive, this is something we never imagined," he said.
Beginning his first year of university in Gaza at just 14 years old, Noor was preparing to launch his own app before the war started.
Now he only wishes for an end to the chaos.
"What I hope is that the war will stop and that the world will come together in its efforts to bring my city back to life again, but the war won't end now, and it threatens every hope for us," he said.
"We fear more every day for the children, as it is not possible for them to endure all this suffering and live in all these conditions."
He says life in Gaza right now is bitter and full of suffering.
"The loud sounds of bombing and missiles fill the air and do not stop for a moment," he said.
"People here are constantly at risk, in a state of constant anxiety due to the scarcity and interruption of food supplies, which, if available, are at high prices, making obtaining food a matter of great effort every day."
He said medicine was barely available in health clinics. He and his family watched a friend and neighbour die in front of them due to the lack of medicine and food for him.
"It cannot be described in the truest words," he said.
Noor's family owned a cinema in Gaza which was destroyed in an air strike.
"Only memories remain," he said.
"God willing, if the war ends and we get out of it safely, I will continue my career."
'Dire humanitarian situation'
Humanitarian groups and aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe waiting to unfold in Rafah.
Food, water and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza if the vital crossings remain shut, which could force hospitals to close down leading to more malnutrition, UN officials said.
Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Omar Shakir told the ABC a full-scale Rafah incursion threatened to exacerbate the already "dire humanitarian situation" in Gaza.
Mr Shakir said because Rafah was the only outlet to the outside world for the Palestinians of Gaza, its control by the Israeli government meant those remaining inside were trapped.
"You have more than 1 million displaced Palestinians in Rafah, many of whom are crammed in overcrowded buildings," he said.
"This overcrowded situation magnifies many times over the risks of unlawfully indiscriminate attacks, especially given the Israeli government's use of explosive weapons."
He said civilians would bear the brunt, given Rafah had some of the only functioning hospitals left in Gaza.
"There is no path for Palestinians in Gaza to exit and there is nowhere safe to go … Israeli forces have bombed areas as designated as safe areas."
Israel has said it denies targeting civilians and maintains its motive is to remove Hamas from the enclave.
"Human Rights Watch has warned for months that forcing the over 1 million displaced Palestinians in Rafah to again flee without a safe place to go would be unlawful and would have catastrophic consequences," Mr Shakir said.
While not issuing a formal famine notification, earlier this month World Food Programme (WFP) executive director Cindy McCain said famine had taken hold in Gaza's north, an assertion strongly rejected by Israel.
"There is famine, full-blown famine, in the north, and it's moving its way south," she said in an NBC News interview.
She said the assessment was "based on what we have seen and what we have experienced on the ground".
The number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophe" levels of hunger has doubled in less than three months, from 570,000 in December to 1.1 million, according to WFP.
"We've already had at least 32 people including 28 children who have died as a result of the Israeli government's use of starvation as a weapon of war," Mr Shakir said.
"The lives of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza hang in the balance without aid.
"In addition, they have displaced the majority of the population. Forced displacement under international law is also a war crime."
Israel has denied using starvation as a weapon of war, and claims of intentions to commit genocide.
The death toll in Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Human Rights Watch called on countries to stop supplying arms to Israel and to instead support the International Criminal Court probe into serious crimes committed as well as the International Court of Justice's proceedings around genocide.
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