Life in Gaza: 'Hungry, freezing,
and terrifying'
12/01/2009
January 4, 2009
A Palestinian journalist's diary highlights the
devastation brought to his family, his city and the
lives of many thousands trapped by Israeli bombing ahead
of yesterday's ground assault.
When the bombing of Gaza started last Saturday, the
Palestinian journalist Mohammed Dawwas, looking from his
seventh-floor window, saw his nine-year-old son, Ibrahim,
rushing home from school near the police academy that
was destroyed in the very first air raid. This is his
diary for a week that was to end in invasion.
Sunday
Ibrahim is too frightened to go out with his brothers to
play. He had been doing an exam when the bombing started
yesterday and I was stuck in the lift because of yet
another power cut. He arrived back, shaking and crying.
When I went to get some food he said, "please baba,
don't go out." We had a call from the doorman in the
building at around 7.45pm telling us we should get out
because the Red Cross had given a warning that the Al
Kinz mosque next to our building in Omar Mukhtar Street
was likely to be destroyed. There were about 100 people
down in the yard. You could hear continual explosions
some way away. My brother-in-law Mahdi came in his car
and said let's go, so we drove off to stay at my
father-in-law's house – my wife and the eight kids
staying in one room and me in the TV room. We drove in
convoy, going down two one-way streets the wrong way to
avoid going near the Palestinian Legislative Council
building [which was destroyed three nights later]. It
was completely dark except for our headlights. It was
frightening.
Monday
When I got back this morning I opened every one of the
windows and all the doors except the front one so they
wouldn't be smashed by the explosions. Streets in Gaza
City are mostly deserted except for people moving from
one house to another and people travelling to the
bakeries where there are long queues for bread. There is
wreckage everywhere.
I interviewed Dr Hamdi Rashid, 45, who had just come off
shift at Shifa hospital frightened and shocked by sight
of the five Balousha girls killed in Jabalya today. He
said the hospital had to move patients either to private
hospitals or to their homes before they are ready
because there are no empty beds. And he said the night
before last all the hospital's front windows were
shattered by the bomb that destroyed the Shifa Mosque.
Tuesday
Ibrahim asked me: "How much does it cost to travel
outside Gaza?" I was telling him we have to wait and
see, when my phone rang. It was a recorded message from
PalTel [the Palestinian phone company] saying it had
nothing to do with the messages being left by the
Israelis on people's phones telling them to leave houses
with wanted men or weapons. My son Ismail, who is 11,
always goes to buy bread but today he refused to go
alone. So I drove him and on the way he said: "Baba,
don't drive near any mosques." He was afraid we might be
bombed because several mosques have been attacked. When
he we got the bakery he had to wait for two and half
hours to get the sack of loaves they are allowing each
family. When we got home Ibrahim started asking me:
"When the crossings open, is it easy for everyone to
leave?" The weather is freezing and we have no power –
except for two to three hours a day – and no cooking
gas. We're put blankets round us to keep warm. I do have
a generator but I've only got five or six litres of fuel
and I have to conserve it. I use it just long enough to
heat the water for my wife and the girls to have a
shower and to charge my mobile, which is very important.
As mosques with Hamas connections are getting attacked
we're worried again they are going to bomb the one next
door. So we went back to my in-laws' house in western
Rimal, behind Shifa hospital.
Wednesday
New Year's Eve. We're in a routine now, staying with my
in-laws at night and coming home in the day. Instead of
having fireworks or going out to restaurants and coffee
shops, we have Israeli bombings. We heard that [Hamas de
facto Prime Minister] Ismail Haniyeh's office in the Tel
El Hawa district had been bombed. It was where I
interviewed him just after he became Prime Minister. It
was quieter today in Gaza City, and for the first time
since the bombing started I went to the main vegetable
market near Palestine Square. It was less busy than
usual with everyone coming quickly, buying their stuff,
and getting out. Prices have sky-rocketed with tomatoes
up from one shekel a kilo the day before the bombing to
two shekels, and hot green peppers, which last week were
one shekel for 250g, are now three. The shops are all
shut so there is less available. Going back I forgot the
Soraya [main Gaza city security compound] had been
bombed. We had to take a detour round it. Until the
bombing there were lots of police, including traffic
police, around, but now there are none. When I got home
Ibrahim came to me again and asked: "When they let the
journalists come in, I want to take $100 from you and go
abroad." It brings tears to my eyes when he talks like
this. Before we left for my in-laws, my brother Abdul
Qadr called me from Qatar and said: "This was what
happened in 1990 when I was in Kuwait and Iraq invaded.
You have to do the same. Do what the kids want and then
they'll feel safer."
Thursday
This is the worst day. Last night I couldn't sleep at
all for the bombings. When we got near the Ministry of
Health on the way home two guys told us not to drive
further down al-Wada Street because they might be about
to bomb the ministry. Some of the kids wanted to see the
PLC building which had been destroyed the previous
night. It's New Year's Day, which is the anniversary of
the formation of Fatah in 1965. When we got there we all
remembered the first time Arafat spoke after coming back
[from Tunis] to Gaza in 1994. Everyone was happy,
optimistic; it was something great. This is crazy.
Friday
Thursday night was the calmest night. It's the only
night I slept right through. But I woke up worried. I
had a message from Maan news service the previous
evening saying that all foreigners in Gaza were being
given the option of leaving. So I thought there would be
a land offensive. I decided not to go to Friday prayers.
At the mosque where my in-laws go, prayers only took 10
or 15 minutes instead of the usual 45. One of my
brothers-in-law suggested that the whole family eat
together today – the first really proper meal we had had
all week – meat kebabs. I hadn't had a shower or shaved
all week. The doorman from my building rang me to tell
me the power was on so I went home with my two
daughters. But when we got back the power went off
again. I changed my clothes.
Yesterday
This morning I found a leaflet outside our building. I'm
assuming that they're not meant for us because it says
in Arabic: "To the residents of the area. Because of
terrorist activities from your area against the state of
Israel, the Israel Defence Force will react immediately
and operate where you live. For your safety you are
asked to evacuate the area immediately." I don't believe
they are going to bomb this building because no rockets
are fired from here. But it is a kind of psychological
warfare. It frightens people here. Today I've just used
a kerosene stove to heat up a pan of water and had a
really good wash and shave. I'm about to leave to go
back to my in-laws because its getting dark. And it's
still freezing.
Day by day
It was a shock, but no surprise, when Israel
launched its heaviest air attack on Gaza in decades on
27 December. Before Christmas Hamas declared it would
not renew a six-month truce with Israel, saying the
Israelis had failed to lift their blockade on Gaza.
Israel blamed Hamas for failing to end rocket attacks or
halt weapons smuggling. The first day of the assault
killed 227 Palestinians, but did not halt the rockets,
with one Israeli man killed.
Sunday A laboratory at the Islamic University and 40
smuggling tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt are bombed.
Five sisters are killed in their sleep during an Israeli
night attack on nearby mosque in Jabaliya.
Monday Air strikes intensify, with Hamas-run Interior
Ministry bombed. Hamas fires rockets deeper into
southern Israel. Defence Minister Ehud Barak warns
Israel is engaged in war "to the bitter end".
Tuesday Hamas encourages militants to respond to Israeli
attacks with "all available means". Rockets reach
Beersheba – the farthest to date. Israel says attacks
signal "long weeks of military action". US and EU call
for ceasefire.
Wednesday UN Security Council considers resolution
calling for immediate ceasefire, but Israel rejects it.
Israeli tanks move towards the Gaza border. Office of
Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Hamas buildings are
attacked.
Thursday Air strike kills the hardline Hamas leader
Nizar Rayyan at his home in Gaza. More than 30 rockets
fired into southern Israel. Aid agencies warn of
humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Friday Israel bombs mosque claimed to be "terror hub"
used to store weapons. Tanks mass on Gaza border.
Palestinian death toll reaches 424, with four Israelis
killed by rockets.
Yesterday Another senior Hamas commander, Abu Zakaria
al-Zamal, is killed in an air strike. Israel launches
artillery bombardment of Gaza in preparation for a
ground assault.
Reaction: How world leaders responded to a week of
aggression
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister
'It is vital that moderation must now prevail'
Tony Blair, Middle East envoy
'We need to devise a new strategy for Gaza'
George Bush, US President
'Hamas has... no intention of serving the Palestinian
people'
Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State
'We need a ceasefire that is durable and sustainable'
Barack Obama, US president-elect
'Closely monitoring events'
Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state in waiting
'No comment'
Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General
'Strongly urge... an immediate stop to all acts of
violence'
©independent.co.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mohammed-dawwas-life-in-gaza-hungry-freezing-and-terrifying-1224475.html