In a dimly lit locker room at the Nablus municipal stadium in the occupied West Bank, the television stays on constantly, broadcasting nonstop news from Gaza. A group of men from Khan Younis gathers around it. For over two years, they’ve lived in this stadium turned refugee camp, their lives on hold between exile and the war they watch unfold on screen.
Most were construction workers in Israel on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its attack. As Israel began detaining Palestinians from Gaza, they escaped to the West Bank, where they remain—separated from their wives and children living in makeshift tents inside Gaza. With few exceptions, civilians are currently barred from entering or leaving the strip.
“They killed my nephew and his two children,” says 37-year-old Baker Majjar, who before the conflict alternated months between Gaza and construction work in Tamra, northeastern Israel. “They were getting food at an aid distribution point near Khan Younis. I’ve lost over a hundred relatives and friends to Israeli attacks since the war began. Then I stopped counting.”
Majjar was among the 18,500 married men over 25 from Gaza who had Israeli permits to enter the country, mainly for agricultural and construction jobs. In the hours after the Hamas attack, Israeli forces started rounding them up. Thousands were arrested in raids across Israel, imprisoned, or deported to Gaza with their work permits revoked.
Along with hundreds of other workers from Gaza, Majjar headed to the West Bank seeking refuge. He crossed at Barta’a, a town on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank, long used by Palestinians to avoid official checkpoints. He eventually reached the stadium in Nablus, where nearly 1,000 Gazans lived during the early months of the war.
“Slowly, some moved elsewhere in the West Bank,” Majjar says. “Others were arrested by Israeli forces during a raid here at the stadium. We haven’t heard from them since.”
Now, about 50 Palestinians from Gaza remain, living in the deteriorating rooms that once served as locker rooms. Most sleep on mattresses or worn-out sofas. A few electric fans provide the only relief from the stifling summer heat, when West Bank temperatures can exceed 40°C. Laundry hangs from the fences around the pitch.
The Palestinian Authority’s labor ministry gives them around 700 shekels (£162) every one to three months—money they send to their families in Gaza, though only half gets through due to commissions. A few have found short-term work for meager pay.
“My wife and two sons, aged four and six, live in a tent in the al-Mawasi camp between Khan Younis and Rafah,” says Majjar. “Our house was destroyed […] And I’m here, unable to help them.”
“I have seven children—two boys and five girls—the youngest is 11,” says Maher Qudeh, 53, who worked south of Tel Aviv before the war. “I knew a man who was here with us. He was from Gaza City. One day they told him his son had been killed. He had a heart attack from the shock and died that same day.”
“There was a man who came to this stadium after the start of the war…””The war,” says Wajdi Yaeesh, director of the Human Supporters Association in Nablus, which provides food and aid to Palestinians from Gaza living in the city. “He had written the names of his eight children on the wall beside his bed. Before he left the stadium to move elsewhere, he had already crossed out four of those names – the ones who had been killed in Gaza.”
In Nablus, there are at least seven women from Gaza who are either cancer patients themselves or mothers of children with cancer. Like many others, they had received permission before Hamas’s October 7 attack to leave Gaza for medical treatment. However, after the war began, Israeli authorities asked hospital officials to list patients who were well enough to be discharged so they could be sent back to Gaza. Although an Israeli court stopped the deportations, many of the women moved to the West Bank. In March 2024, The Guardian visited a Jerusalem hospital where at least five children from Gaza were being treated for cancer. Today, all of those children have died. Their mothers, separated from the rest of their families still in Gaza, have since moved to towns in the West Bank.
According to figures from the Qatar Red Crescent and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, more than 4,400 stranded Palestinian workers and patients from Gaza are currently in the West Bank.
Khaled, 51, from Tuffah – one of the four quarters of Gaza’s Old City – still carries the pain of not being with two of his five children, aged 10 and 19, when they were killed in an Israeli airstrike last year.
“Now, with the truce, I only hope to hold my three surviving children and my wife again,” says Khaled, who has since become the cook for displaced Palestinians from Gaza sheltering in the stadium. “I just want to go back to Gaza as soon as possible.”
Others, however, have lost faith in returning. Samir Hajjaj Abu Salah, 55, from Khan Younis, is convinced there is no longer a future among Gaza’s ruins.
“I never want to set foot in my home again,” he says. “Once my family is evacuated, we’ll settle somewhere far from the Strip.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the situation for Palestinians in Israel on October 7 2023 designed to be clear and informative
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 Who are the Palestinians in Israel being referred to
They are Palestinian citizens of Israel sometimes called Arab Israelis They are the Palestinian population and their descendants who remained within the borders of the new state of Israel after its establishment in 1948 and hold Israeli citizenship
2 What happened on October 7 2023 that affected them
On that day Hamas launched a largescale attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip This triggered a major war and created an extremely tense and dangerous atmosphere throughout the entire country affecting all citizens including Palestinians
3 What does caught between exile and war mean
It means they are trapped in a difficult position They are full citizens of Israel but many feel a deep national and cultural connection to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza The war forced them to navigate their loyalty to their state while facing suspicion from some Jewish Israelis and grieving for the Palestinian casualties in Gaza
4 Were Palestinians in Israel directly involved in the Hamas attack
No the attack was carried out by Hamas a militant group from the Gaza Strip The vast majority of Palestinian citizens of Israel were not involved and were also victims of the violence and rocket fire that day
IntermediateLevel Questions
5 How did the October 7th attack change daily life for Palestinians in Israel
It created a crisis of safety and belonging They faced
Immediate Danger Like all Israelis they were rushing to bomb shelters from rocket fire
Social Tensions A rise in public suspicion and hostility from some segments of Israeli society
Internal Conflict Pain from the Israeli victims of October 7th and from the subsequent Palestinian casualties in Gaza
Economic Hardship Many businesses and communities faced economic slowdowns and instability
6 What are some specific examples of the tensions they faced
Examples include public figures calling for the expulsion of Arab citizens widespread firings of Palestinian employees from their jobs for social media posts deemed sympathetic to Gaza and a chilling effect on freedom of expression where any criticism of the war could be labeled as treason
