Gaza: Life under fire

30 December 2008

Since the beginning of the Israeli military operation on the Gaza Strip an Oxfam partner organisation, the Democracy and Workers Rights Center (DWRC), has maintained daily contact with its colleagues and their families in Gaza, hoping that they will all remain safe and unharmed.

DWRC's Gaza branch co-ordinator, who lives with his family in the south-west of Gaza city, not very far from one of the bombed security compounds and the presidential compound, has welcomed families of friends and neighbours to his apartment because it was safer than theirs. There are 20 people living together in his house, most of them children. Adults tell stories to try to distract the children during daytime to make the situation easier on them. No one goes out onto the streets unless they really have to. They have to keep their windows open all the time despite the cold, to avoid them breaking into a hundred pieces under the impact of exploding missiles.

He says: "I have never experienced a situation like this. Every time the Israeli warplanes bomb a target in our area, we tell the youngest children that the explosions are firecrackers or fireworks, in an attempt to diminish their fears. But only the very youngest children believe this story. We stay awake at night to comfort our children every time something happens. Since the start of the operation we have had no electricity, and now we have no water anymore." He also mentioned that due to the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for the past months, the population is already suffering from a scarcity of cooking gas. Now, without electricity, water and gas running out, they just hope against all odds that this nightmare will be soon over.

He has still some bread left for the moment, but when there is no more left he does not know what they will do. They might have to try to cook bread on small fires in the streets. Few bakeries are still open, there are long lines of people desperate for bread and each person only gets a little, so it can go round as many people as possible. As the Israeli military operation continues, the situation gets more and more desperate for Gaza's residents.

While speaking to our colleague on the phone, we could hear in the background the constant drone of Israeli planes circling in the skies. In Gaza, there are no underground shelters or safe rooms where families can take refuge during military strikes. They have to stay in their homes, more or less exposed depending on their location and the solidity of the building in which they live, just hoping to stay alive.