The Palestine Chronicle spoke with residents of the Gaza Strip, including three children, who have been subject to the most horrific genocide for the last 200 days.
200 days into Israel’s genocidal war, over 34,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 75,000 were injured. Additionally, approximately 11,000 are missing, trapped under the rubble of their destroyed homes.
Thousands of Palestinians, including youth, children, women and the elderly, are currently incommunicado, many believed to be detained by Israeli occupation forces during its invasion of Gaza.
The Palestine Chronicle spoke with residents of the Gaza Strip, including three children, who have been subject to the most horrific genocide for the last 200 days.
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Deadliest
“I was only eight years old during the first Palestinian Nakba,” Hajj Abdul Rahman, 83, Yassin told the Palestine Chronicle.
“I lived through all the events of the Nakba, the 1967 war, the 1973 war, the First Intifada in 1987, the Second Intifada in 2000, and many other major wars, but this one is the deadliest the Palestinian people have ever experienced,” he said.
“I lost my grandson, my eldest son and his family. Me and my wife, we are old and sick, we lack medication and treatment, and we had to endure the pain of being displaced from our homes,” Yassin continued.
“I would not have imagined to be away from my home for this long. My only hope is to return home and die there, to be buried by my sons and grandsons in Gaza, where I have lived for 75 years”.
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‘We Will Stay in Gaza’
Despite the horrors of the war, many Palestinians are determined to stay in Gaza. It is the case of Abu Mohammed Qarmen.
“The occupation bombed my house, and my brother was martyred. I had already endured the pain of losing my son, Mahmoud, during the 2014 war. But we will remain in our land and will not leave,” Qarmen told The Palestine Chronicle.
“I lived through the Naksa war in 1967 when the occupation occupied Gaza, Sinai, the Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon, but this war is definitely the harshest,” he said.
“The Naksa war only lasted six days, now the Israeli occupation has been waging war on us for 200 days, killing, injuring, and displacing hundreds of thousands, bringing pain to every Palestinian home”.
There is no family in Gaza who has been spared from the pain of losing a child, a beloved friend, a close relative.
Abu Yazan al-Saedi has just lost his friends and neighbors.
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“On the 198th day of war, the occupation forces bombed the house of our neighbors, the Nuwairi family, and all those in the building were martyred,” he said.
“There is no house in the Gaza Strip that has not been subjected to bombardment. Everyone in Gaza is now sad, afflicted with immense pain. We have lost many loved ones and friends,” al-Saedi continued.
“Every day, a new massacre committed by the occupation is revealed. This criminal entity must be brought to trial and forced to stop the genocide it has waged on Gaza for 200 days”.
War on Children
Children in Gaza are the ones who “suffer first and suffer most,” according to UNICEF, which deemed Gaza as “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child”.
The Palestine Chronicle spoke with three children, who told us how their lives changed throughout these 200 days of genocidal war.
“I fled with my family from the Bureij camp in central Gaza and we are now living in an UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp,” Rahaf Hamdan, 12, told the Palestine Chronicle.
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“My life before the war was beautiful, full of joy. But the war changed everything. I hope the war can stop, because now all we feel is fear and terror, there is no fun anymore,” she continued.
“Every night, I dream that the war will stop. We are afraid of the sound of rockets and bombings. I miss my friends, and I miss school.”
11-year-old Ghazal Awad was displaced with his family from the city of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.
“My life before the war was very beautiful. We used to go out all the time, we lived in our home, we went to parks. Now our lives have become difficult. We cannot cook, and we live in a shelter. We sleep in a classroom in an UNRWA school,” he said.
“I wish the war would end, so that my soul could rest, and we would return to our home. I lost half of my friends who became martyrs during this war. I am afraid of F16 aircraft missiles, and I am very afraid of the sounds of bombing. The occupation bombed my house, and now I am afraid of everything”.
Rahaf Al-Hawajri, 12, was displaced from the village of Juhar Al-Deek in the central Gaza Strip.
“My life before the war was sweet. I used to play with my friends and go to school every day. But now we are not happy living in displacement schools. The place is not clean, and we don’t have our own bathrooms. We sleep on the ground. We are not happy,” she said, with tears in her eyes.
“I miss my friends, my school, my neighbors, my relatives. We used to play a lot before the war. Now we can’t play because of the occupation’s bombardment. We fear that the army will invade the Nuseirat camp where we are living now,” she continued.
“I wish the war would end, and we could return to our homes. I would even live in a tent near my house”.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Abdallah Aljamal is a Gaza-based journalist. He is a correspondent for The Palestine Chronicle in the Gaza Strip.
