World : GAZA : UP TO DATE NEWS : Aftermath – Hearing the Stories from Victims of Israeli Attacks

Updated stats for the dead and injured of Palestine as of this publication July 22, 2014:
632 killed
161 children
66 women
35 elderly
4030 injuries
1213 children
698 women
161 elderly

By Awni Farhat

*Please note this article was originally published July 16 on the ninth day of the Israeli aggression.

It was 7 am in the morning and I could hardly wake up after barely sleeping. 2 great Finnish journalists were coming through the Erez crossing to cover the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and I was going to translate for them. I got dressed and finally Mom slept after being awake for the whole night. I kissed her forehead and left.

Photo: Hosam Salem

The streets were deserted, and the sounds of drones and bombings were terrible. I felt that the drones were watching every Palestinian step. I took a car to meet the journalists, on the radio they were talking about a ceasefire but there was no ceasefire on the ground as we heard several explosions on the journey.

We met up, it was good to see the two guys again. “We are just here for few hours, we have to come back to Israel and then go back home tomorrow”, Tuomas said,

“We are going to make interviews with people who took UNRWA schools as shelter and with some families whose houses were bombed ” said Hosam the fixer, sitting beside the driver.

Photo: Ezz Al Zanoon

Once we entered the UNRWA school, you could clearly see the immense anger and fear in people’s eyes and hearts. Most of them were from Beit Lahia and the northern border areas – they left their houses, fleeing from the continuing Israeli air strikes. According to UNRWA, there are currently *19,000 refugees taking shelter in their schools.

(*figure as of July 16 2014 – current refugees in UNRWA shelters numbered at 118,300)

We did some interviews with a family there who left everything behind after midnight, surviving with their lives. The school was full of children and women, some people were sleeping on the floor, children were playing at the school yard. It broke my heart to see this.

Next we went down to the Gaza’s sea port, even though it wasn’t safe to go there as Israeli gunboats keep shelling the port. “You have just less than 10 minutes – the whole port is under Israeli navy gunboats fire. Its not safe to be there.” the port security told us.

Once we entered the port’s gate, I headed fast down to see the Gaza’s Ark, the ‘Building Hope’ boat which was attacked by Israeli Navy gunboats on 11 July at 2am. Gaza’s Ark was supposed to sail this September, carrying Palestinian products and challenging the Israeli blockade which has been imposed for several years.

Gaza’s Ark is helping many Palestinians producers and marginalized women who work in cooperatives to help their families and improve their lives.

I have been working on Gaza’s ark project as products coordinator for over the past 2 years. It wasn’t just a boat it was a dream of hope.

I was totally shocked when I saw the rubble of the Gaza’s Ark – there was nothing left except some metal fuel tanks. Fires were still going on in the fishing boats nearby.

I got a flash of all the memories, workers, builders, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and producers I worked with on this project. Gaza’s Ark project helped different Palestinians to have a job, at a time when unemployment is at over 40% in Gaza. My heart tore apart when I saw what was left of the Gaza’s Ark, over 2 years of hard work left as rubble, it was so painful moment.

32 fishing boats were partially and totally damaged, destroying the livelihoods of some of Gaza’s 4000 fishermen, 90% of whom are in poverty. Already while working they are only allowed to go three nautical miles from the shore, while Israeli naval forces constantly harass and arrest them.

Afterwards, we drove to visit a civilian house which was totally annihilated by an Israeli air raid. The streets were covered in broken glass and lined with damaged cars. Neighbors said that they had less than 3 minutes to evacuate.

After these interviews, we headed to Al Shijaii neighborhood in the eastern Gaza Strip where 18 people from Al Batsh family were massacred by F-16 warplanes. 9 children were among the dead, found under the rubble. I met Khaled whose photo has been seen around the world – in it he sits against a car, weeping. He lost his dad, uncles, granny and cousins.

After this last interview, we drove to the Erez crossing as the Finnish journalists wanted to return home as soon as possible. When they left I knew the meaning of being imprisoned in besieged Gaza, and how bad the Israeli blockade is. And how important the freedom of movement is for Palestinians.

I took this (photo). While we were in the car , a huge air strike happened nearby.

On the car ride home, a woman who was sitting nearby with her 6 year old child said, “We left our house, we don’t know what’s going to happen. In any single moment we may get murdered and leave this life, if an Israeli missile hit this car”. Sigh. She said again, “When the aggression ends, you will be shocked by the numbers of friends and colleagues who have been injured or killed by Israeli attacks.”

I took a deep breath and tried to stop thinking about what she said.

Sources:
Awni Farhat on TumblrGaza’s Ark

http://revolution-news.com/