By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -The Bakrons and al-Bareems, two families from opposite ends of Gaza, have criss-crossed the rubble-strewn territory many times during 21 months of war, in search of food and shelter from Israeli attacks.

They've sought refuge in the homes of friends and relatives, in school classrooms and in tents, moving frequently as the Israeli military has ordered civilians from one zone to another.

The Bareems, from southern Gaza, have a disabled child who they have pushed in his wheelchair. The Bakrons, from the north, stopped wandering in May after two children of their children were killed in an airstrike.

"Our story is one of displacement, loss of loved ones, hunger, humiliation and loss of hope," said Nizar Bakron, 38, who lost his daughter Olina, 10, and son Rebhi, eight.

The families' experiences illustrate the plight of the 1.9 million Gaza residents - 90% of the population - that the United Nations says have been displaced during the conflict.

Israel's war in Gaza has left much of the enclave in ruins and its people desperate from hunger. It was triggered by an attack by Islamist group Hamas - which governs the Strip - on Israeli border communities on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostage.

Before the war, Nizar and his wife Amal, four years his junior, had a happy life in Shejaia, a teeming district in the east of Gaza City. Their eldest Adam is 12; the youngest, Youssef, a baby.

Photographs, seen by Reuters, show family parties at home and days at the beach.

"When the October 7 attack happened, I knew it wouldn't be something good for us," Nizar said. They left home the next day for Amal's mother's house further south in Zahra, he said.

Five days later Israel began ordering civilians in northern Gaza to move south and, on October 27, it launched a ground invasion.

Throughout the war Israel has issued evacuation orders in areas where it plans to conduct........

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