“Every day is more difficult than the last. “Everything is a struggle, even to get the most basic things,” Rania, a 51-year-old woman employed by a human rights organization, said by voice message from Gaza. That’s why he doesn’t fully understand that after a month and more than 10,000 deaths from Israeli attacks, the international community is unable to stop the Israeli offensive. “I say to everyone, to the entire universe, that this is a disgrace. You have let us down! And you have failed yourself if you consider yourself human, because this shouldn’t happen, you shouldn’t allow it,” he says, his voice broken. The destruction wrought in a month of operations in Gaza, particularly since the October 27 ground invasion, is unprecedented in previous offensives, both in terms of deaths and injuries as well as buildings destroyed.
According to the United Nations, in 2014, 2,205 Palestinians, including 538 minors, died during the 51-day Operation Protective Edge – which was to that point the worst military offensive since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. The numbers – a fifth of the deaths have now been registered in just one month – pale in comparison to the current balance. Against this background, Rania assures that, despite living in Gaza for 22 years, these weeks have helped her lose hope in the international community and international justice: “I know that they can do something and they are not doing it. “. This is, quite simply, a crime against humanity.” This outrage at feeling abandoned is shared with other testimonies collected by EL PAÍS.
A group of people watch from the terrace of a building the damage caused by an Israeli bombing raid in Gaza on October 7. MAHMUD HAMS (AFP)
Some, like Refaa Alareer, a 44-year-old professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, one of the bombing victims and father of four daughters and two sons, answer questions from Gaza City with a muffled response on the phone. “A desperate friend gives her children energy drinks for lack of water; Many people become ill from consuming contaminated water.” He explains that solar panels keep them connected to the world. Computers, phones or the ability to post on social networks depend on them. “They are sending Gaza back a hundred years,” he describes, pointing to the international community, left and right, as “complicit” in the “destruction” by Israel, which claims to have already surrounded the city and divided the Gaza Strip into two Parts.
Calls to protect civilians in the Palestinian enclave remain unheeded by Israel after 31 days of military operations on land, sea and air in response to the Hamas attack that left more than 1,400 dead and more than 240 hostages in its hands . “It’s like being in a horror movie you never imagined and being grateful every day that you’re still alive,” describes Saeb Alzard, 27, a resident of Gaza City, in his messages . His father died after his home was bombed on Friday, October 13th. He now lives with relatives.
Every morning, Alzard says, they have different “missions and challenges” before them, such as obtaining water, food and electricity. Sometimes they take it from neighbors who have wells, other times they look for it in warehouses, and although it is “rare,” there are times when the authorities distribute it. The basis of the diet is “bread with something else” and there are days when they cook with firewood or receive food from charities. “And we still have some money left if we find something to buy,” explains Alzard, who already told EL PAÍS about the massacre at Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17.
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A man cries over the body of his dead son at Al-Shifa Hospital after an Israeli airstrike was launched on Gaza on October 9. MOHAMMED SABER (EPA-EFE)
“Hungry people in the 21st century? Israel is killing us not only with the complicity of the West, but also of the Arab countries. “They want us Palestinians to remain silent without demanding our freedom,” says Refaa Alareer indignantly, calling the humanitarian aid coming from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing a “joke.” He estimates the professor’s family still has about a week’s worth of doses left. “We eat and drink about a quarter of what we normally eat. I haven’t showered in 10 days. As for food, you can still buy tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, peppers and that’s it on the street, but since the tanks arrived here there are fewer and fewer vendors,” he says, referring to the October 27 land invasion . Rania assures that in Rafah, the southern city on the border where she lives after leaving the capital, vegetables are still the most accessible, but there is neither meat nor chicken “in conditions” that she needs with some protein could provide.
Communication with Gaza residents is not easy. The messages from Rania, who prefers not to give her last name or the name of the NGO she works for for security reasons, appear on the screen 24 hours after the special envoy of EL PAÍS sent her the questions. In between, the night from Saturday to Sunday, which the professor at the Islamic University described as one of the worst of the month. “The nights are the worst, damn it. We are living in a nightmare, in an unprecedented horror. “Last night Israel cut communications and began bombing like never before,” he said. “It is the children who suffer the most and as a father I am desperate because I cannot protect them. “If I can’t even protect myself…” he complains, comparing the destruction of Gaza to that of the Second World War.
Three weeks later, not only is there no sign that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will accept a ceasefire, even a temporary one, but the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, according to the testimonies collected. “I have seen a lot, I have seen a lot, but this is not normal and makes me think that this is not happening to punish us, no. It’s about driving us out of Gaza and turning Gaza into scorched earth. “Nothing will be the same again,” emphasizes Rania.
A man sits among the rubble and watches Palestinian rescue teams work after an Israeli attack on November 1. Ali Jadallah (Anadolu/Getty Images)
There are also impacts on mental health. “The worst is constantly running through our minds, especially when there is no connection. We have family everywhere. We are continually concerned about those who are in other parts of the Gaza Strip. The only satisfaction is that sometimes you can call them and see that they are still alive. And if we lose that, it will be very difficult,” describes tearfully Rania, who lost her home in Al Soudaniya district, northwest of Gaza City, before forcibly settling in Rafah. Even in this area, which is considered the safest, Rania describes how “traumatized” the children are. “We can’t even move a chair on the floor because there is panic in their eyes. Some noise, some sound…” he adds as some of those screams can be heard in the background.
According to her story, the woman lives with 23 other relatives in an apartment of less than 100 square meters. “We have no privacy or dignity.” People of all ages “crowd” together. Older too. There are chronically ill patients who do not have access to treatments or medications for heart, diabetes or blood pressure. Rania also warns that temperatures are falling and they are increasingly exposed to colds and infections and are not given cough syrup, antibiotics or antipyretics. In addition, before they could reach Rafah, some of the relatives experienced the bombing of Al Nuseirat market, a refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip. “They witnessed indescribable scenes, parts of people… it cannot be described, it cannot be described,” he emphasizes.
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“We are not at war with the people of Gaza,” the Israeli army repeated again this Monday through its social network account X (formerly Twitter), showing a video shot from the air of citizens crossing an alleged escape route went to a safe area. In doing so, they are trying to shake off the accusation of having done nothing despite the resources at their disposal, so that, according to health sources, the death toll in Gaza, where Hamas rules, has risen to over 10,000, including more than 4,000 children.
Israel is resorting to “psychological warfare” and “ethnic cleansing” to eventually settle Gazans in Egypt’s Sinai desert, says Haidar Eid, professor of postcolonial and postmodern literature at Al-Aqsa University, via Notes Voice. “What we are witnessing today is the continuation of the Nakba, when apartheid began,” adds Eid, who has also walked the Strip several times since leaving his home in the capital’s Rimal district before landing in Rafah. “Israel wants us to leave the north for a safe area south of the Gaza Valley, but here too they continue the attacks,” he complains.
Among the testimonies collected, several compare the current war to the Nakba, the forced expulsion that forced Israel to establish its state in 1948. “We are experiencing a second Nakba. They make our lives impossible and Gaza an uninhabitable place. “This is not normal aggression or comparable to what has happened in the last two decades,” says Rania, referring to previous peaks of violence in Gaza, such as 2014 and 2009. Professor Alareer, a fan of Barcelona Football Club, comments in a similar way. Who can hardly follow the results and news of the league? “Look at Barça!” he starts in the middle of a statement full of horror and regret.
“I have the fear of losing one of my loved ones, the fear of not knowing what the future holds for us. Everyone is wondering what will happen. None of us know. How can we carry this on our conscience?” says Rania. “We live with relatives. Our life is much simpler and more comfortable than most others,” he says thanks. Further north, in the besieged city, everything is more complicated, as Saeb Alzard explains: “We are often woken up at night by the noise of the bombs. Sometimes we all end up in the middle of the playground together, trying to calm the kids down before we go back to bed. But in the end we got some sleep. So when we wake up and see the morning, we take a deep breath and thank God that we are still alive.”
A Palestinian woman hugs the body of her five-year-old niece, who was killed in an Israeli bombing on October 17. MOHAMMED SALEM (Portal)
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