[R-G] Voices from Gaza

[Anthony Fenton]

FOCUS: VOICES FROM GAZA
Gazans: 'We face a dark destiny'
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/200915122556916110.html

As Israeli forces push deeper into the Gaza Strip and the death toll  
continues to rise, Al Jazeera hears from some of the Gazans we first  
spoke to during the aerial bombardment.

They describe the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza and  
explain how the Israeli ground offensive is affecting them.

  - Majed Badra, 23, Gaza City, cartoonist and student at the Islamic  
University

"Last night was difficult - all of Gaza was under darkness. There is  
no TV because there is no electricity, so all the time we sit and wait  
and hear news on the radio about what the Israeli forces are doing and  
what our resistance can do and how many of our people they have killed.

I am used to air-raids and hearing the tanks come into Gaza and we are  
used to hearing reports on the radio in the dark. But we have to focus  
on the children - my brother's sons are scared all the time and the  
children are very frightened of the dark and of the military.

Yesterday the bread in our house ran out and me and my brother went to  
the bakery and waited three hours just to buy bread. There is not a  
lot of food in Gaza.

We have water, but we need electricity to power the pump so the water  
may run out in a few days. This has already happened for some of our  
neighbours.

Of course I worry about this situation and that maybe there will be no  
food left and we will have to go searching for it. But I don't know  
what will happen. I don't have any thoughts. I am living in the moment  
and waiting to see what will happen."

  - Hamoudi, Tal el Hawa

"Our situation is bleak. I wasn't able to get in touch with my family  
for four days. I'm stuck in the middle of Gaza City and they were at  
home. Today I met them - fortunately they are still alive.

But there is no food, no water, the power has been cut for eight days.

Our lives - the decent life that every human being should have - is  
being taken from us. We are civilians - we haven't done anything to  
Israel.

"It is guerrilla warfare inside the city .... All of the citizens of  
the so-called free world are watching ... while we're being slaughtered"

  - Hamoudi, Gaza

I do not support Hamas. I hate politics. I've hated it all my life.  
But Hamas has no other option but to resist. Dying for the Palestinian  
cause is something noble. They're fighting back fiercely because it is  
the only option they have.

They're an Islamic movement and feel they have nothing to lose,  
because they'll go to heaven. They fight with everything they've got.

It's guerrilla warfare inside the city where the buildings are very  
close to each other. That's why the battlefield is different to that  
of Lebanon in 2006.

All of the citizens of the so-called free world are watching us on  
their high definition monitors, while we're being slaughtered.

People know what is going on, the international community knows. When  
are they going to take action? We're in the 21st century - is this  
what civilisation is all about?

As a Palestinian, I don't rely on the international community; they  
abandoned us.

Isn't this what the Security Council and Geneva Conventions are about  
- fighting to prevent war?

When the fuel runs out it's going to be pitch black - we'll lose all  
communications and no one will know what's going on. We're facing a  
dark destiny.

The situation is going to become really bad - way beyond catastrophic."

  - Amin Asfour, Gaza City, doctor in a public hospital

"Yesterday and today the situation has gotten worse. We have more  
injured coming in.

The ground offensive has begun and they're shooting at anyone they can.

I don't know what's going on on the front lines, but here at the  
hospital we're seeing more and more people who have been shot.

The international community is just standing by and watching - people  
have gone deaf and forgotten how to speak. All we hear are bombs and  
rockets, no words.

There have been demonstrations - the people stand behind us. But the  
governments can't hear them.

International governments can stop this but they're not doing anything.

I see convoys of medicine and supplies coming our way on the TV, but I  
haven't seen any of it with my own eyes yet.

We're still working with what we have, but it's all running out."

  - Ghada Snunu, 30, Gaza City, human rights worker

"We're surviving, but last night it was more than a nightmare - the  
attacks didn't stop at all.

There were just a few seconds between attacks from tanks, warplanes  
and from the sea. We couldn't sleep at all.

Many Gazans are concerned about their children's psychological state  
[GALLO/GETTY]
We haven't seen any news because we have no electricity. I have a  
radio on my mobile phone but the battery died last night.

Also, we have no water, no gas, nothing. We have some food but in a  
few days it will run out.

We were more than terrified last night - the artillery from the  
attacks increased and it is so loud.

And the kids - I have no words to describe how they felt. They were  
screaming and crying and we can't help them because each time they  
hear more attacks their fear increases.

It's getting worse and worse. I am worried because I don't see an end.

I am very depressed and everyone in my family is the same: depressed,  
afraid and sick because the Israelis are becoming more and more crazy.

I hope the resistance in Gaza will help us - yesterday I was praying  
for the resistance movement, for God to give them support and strength.

I believe the resistance is strong and brave - facing the Israeli army  
is not an easy thing. They are sacrificing everything for the sake of  
their home country and their land.

Why doesn't the international community demand that Israel halt its  
attacks immediately? They are only on the side of Israel, not with us.  
They want more Palestinian victims in Gaza - people who did nothing  
and do not deserve to be killed in such an ugly way."

  - Hatem Shurrab, aid worker in Gaza

"The situation is getting worse and worse, day by day.

Medical staff are suffering because of the offensive, equipment is  
more scarce.

Two days ago we provided two hospitals with food that should last for  
a month.

Our work is difficult because we are working under constant fire. We  
keep hearing the sounds of explosions. Planes are flying over us, they  
are not leaving the sky.

Last night was really terrifying. I stayed in the basement with my  
family. We were in total darkness. It was very cold. Over us there was  
the sound of huge explosions and planes. Every minute there was a  
missile. My nephew couldn't stop crying.

I hope it stops. Gazans are peaceful people. We don't deserve this.

I want all of this to stop so that I can work to help the people."

  - Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA director in Gaza

"The situation is very frightening. There is lots of panic and fear,  
bombing everywhere.

There is a great psychological pressure on everyone as we realise the  
future consequences.

The bombing is hurting lots of civilians because it is a densely  
populated area. This is the reality on the ground. You cannot avoid  
that even if you want to.

The humanitarian situation is deteriorating. There is no electricity  
in Gaza now - last week we used to get it for two hours a day, now we  
get nothing.

Before we had running water for three hours out of every 48. Now there  
is no water because it depends on electricity.

Also, the sewage system does not work because there is no electricity  
or spare parts.

There is a lack of qualified doctors for the very complicated  
surgeries and a lack of medicines.

There is no wheat or sugar in stores - many essential items are missing.

Now they're cutting all electrical lines and destroying the  
infrastructure. Today the telecom company issued a statement saying  
that the telecommunications will be cut off because the infrastructure  
has been changed - we will not have telephones or mobile phones."

  - Baha' Enaya, Gaza, engineer

"The situation is a humanitarian disaster and it keeps worsening.

Yesterday the last generator of electricity in Gaza stopped; now this  
has many implications. For example, I live in a twelve storey building  
and the electricity cut means that even water pumps will not be able  
to pump water up to the last floors.

In my house I have not had electricity or fuel for a few days. Because  
of the F-16 strikes I have to leave all the windows in my house open  
to reduce the pressure on the walls and windows, with no heating we  
are seriously freezing.

There are people living in houses built from tin and asbestos. I am  
sure that if a specialised committee is to examine all the buildings  
in the Strip, they will find out that many of them are not suitable  
for inhabiting anymore or are about to fall apart.

"I was one of those people who believed in political solutions and  
that peace is possible, but what we have seen negates all that"

  - Baha', Gaza

Last night was very harsh - we had air strikes accompanied by bombing  
from watercrafts and tanks. We have the impression that all the  
Israeli army is taking part.

The bombing clearly aims to terrify people. Why would they use  
military boats if there are no targets in the sea or on the shore?

I also saw something new, that I haven't seen before, a bomb that  
starts waves of dust mixed with some substance that smells like lead.

Bakeries are probably the only places were you can see people  
gathered. People are not leaving their houses unless they needed bread  
or medical care, and the streets are full of rubble, in every corner  
you can see a destroyed building.

Most of what we eat now is from cans; and in any case I don't think  
people have any appetite to eat.

This operation is re-emphasising that every Palestinian is a suspect;  
the war being fought against us proves that there are no moral  
standards whatsoever, this mentality that is practicing all those  
brutalities against civilians will only lead to more extremism.

I was one of the people who believed in political solutions and that  
peace is possible, yet what we see negates all that. It is evident now  
more than at any time that Israel has no interest in peace.

Gaza is a big prison and Israel wants to turn us into a model of its  
hegemony maybe to show the world its deterrent force.

What is taking place is not a war; because there is no proportionality  
between Palestinian resistance and Israeli acts, it's an aggression.

I feel like we are living in a type of madness that enhances the  
radicalism on both sides. I wonder whether we are the Native Americans  
of the 21st century."

Additional reporting by Oscar Ibrahim, Rachel Shabi and Mira Nabulsi