GAZA, (PIC)
In the areas adjacent to the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip, fear is no longer a possibility but a daily reality.
Hundreds of thousands of residents live under a constant threat from Israeli snipers’ bullets, in a scene that locals describe as resembling an “open shooting range.”
Mohammed Mansour, a resident of al-Bureij refugee camp, says, “We live in a constant feeling that they are in a shooting range, where soldiers fire at us whenever they wish, targeting children, women, and even animals.”
Military deployment imposing control by fire
Along the border, elevated Israeli military sites are spread out, providing snipers with a wide range of vision and fire into residential neighborhoods.
Mansour adds, “The bullets reach the center of the camp, pouring down like rain from snipers, vehicles, and planes, and there is no safe time during the day.”
Sniping as a systematic displacement tool
Testimonies from residents indicate that repeated targeting is not only aimed at killing, but at pushing residents to leave.
Mansour says, “Every time they open fire, we are forced to displace, and when we return, the gunfire is renewed at the same pace, as if the goal is to get us out without return.”
Repeated displacement despite the ceasefire
In the east of Deir al-Balah, the same story is repeated. Ibrahim Salim confirms that the ceasefire did not change anything on the ground.
He says, “The occupation tells us to leave our homes, but that is done with bullets and not with warnings, we are targeted daily to force us to displace.”
He adds, “I was displaced more than ten times after the truce, and every time we return, soldiers open fire on us again.”
Targeting homes and preventing return
The matter was not limited to opening fire, but extended to the direct destruction of homes.
Salim says, “In the last time, snipers fired incendiary and explosive bullets inside the house, which burnt it completely, blocking our return to it.”
Undermining the basic requirements of life
Targeting infrastructure has become part of the daily scene, especially water tanks and power systems.
Zakaria al-Mansi from al-Maghazi refugee camp says, “The soldiers fired at the water tanks completely destroying them, as well as the solar panels, and they can no longer be repaired.”
He adds, “Every morning new tanks are targeted, as if it is a daily sniping game, and this poses a great danger to children and women.”
Shrinking spaces and besieged residents
In light of the expansion of areas under military control, the spaces available to residents are shrinking, which increases the intensity of the humanitarian crisis.
Specialists believe that this reality pushes towards confining residents in narrow areas that lack the requirements of life.
The occupation army began in the last two months expanding the area known as the Yellow Line and drawing new maps for an area it called the Orange Line. The areas under its control thus reached 64% of the total area of the Gaza Strip.
Relief sources reported that the restricted area identified on maps with an orange line constitutes an estimated 11% of the area of Gaza located behind the Yellow Line, and these areas surround about two thirds of Gaza’s total area.
Jad Isaac, the director general of the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem, said that this matter means that Israel effectively controls at least 64% of the area of Gaza, adding, “They want to put the largest possible number of Palestinians in the smallest possible space to facilitate their expulsion.”
Compensating for failure
In the same context, Adel Yassin, the writer and specialist in Israeli affairs, said that the main goal of the occupation at this stage is represented in disrupting the ceasefire agreement and evading moving to the second stage, especially what relates to the withdrawal, noting that what is happening on the ground reflects a clear attempt to expand the scope of control rather than withdrawing.
Yassin explained in a statement to the PIC reporter that any withdrawal step is considered “political suicide” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the scenes of withdrawing soldiers will constitute a harsh blow to his election campaign, and may enhance the chances of his loss which has become, according to his estimation, almost certain.
He added that the aggressive mentality of the occupation views the return of civilian residents as a direct threat, as it reflects the failure to achieve the declared goals, topped by the displacement of the residents of the Gaza Strip, which intersects with the trends of the extreme right seeking to establish settlements on the ruins of the Strip.
Yassin stressed that the steadfastness of residents in their areas represents clear evidence of the failure of the so-called “absolute victory,” and undermines at the same time projects to reshape the demographic reality in Gaza.
Yassin emphasized that Israel’s violations are made with direct or indirect coordination with the US administration, and that the absence of a firm international position is what allows for the continuation of violations and the shedding of more Palestinian blood.
