Oxfam’s Mohammed Ali continues to report from his home in Gaza City during the Israeli military offensive.
Around midnight, Israeli jets hit the Palestinian Legislative Council building, 1km away from my home. Needless to say, we were not celebrating this entry into the New Year.
I received calls from friends in Europe telling me that in solidarity with Gazans, they were not going to celebrate. I pleaded with them to go out, and to enjoy themselves because they could.
My friend in France called to say that she was thinking about my family, in the background I could hear the sounds of fireworks exploding, people laughing and celebrating. At the same moment, the sounds of explosions shook my home and my children cried out.
I felt both happy and sad. Happy because I knew that there were people outside of Gaza who had not forgotten about us, sad thinking of all the Gazans who would be spending this New Year shaking from fear in their homes, mourning their loved ones. I asked myself, do we not deserve to be happy and enjoy the New Year as much as any other human?
I will let the international community answer this question.
We did not sleep for the entire night.
For a year and a half we have suffered from the blockade, which brings lack of fuel, electricity, dignity, life… now sleeplessness adds to our misery.
In the early hours of the morning, we sat together as a family chatting and anticipating what would happen next, my brother interrupted us to say, “Why don’t we make some tea?” None of us wanted to go inside the dark kitchen so we decided to bring the gas burner and put in the middle of the living room. Although the smell of gas, smoke and fear filled the air, that cup of tea became the most precious we have ever drunk; no one said it but I knew that we were all thinking the same thing - that this could be the last cup of tea that ever passes our lips.
30 hours of total blackout had now passed. I waited patiently for the power to return so that I could turn on the TV and check my emails. The power did not come, so for the rest of the night we sat in total darkness.
For a moment, I laughed to myself recalling that a few years ago the people of Japan celebrated the fact that they had not experienced power cuts for twenty years.
When the light entered our windows, we decided to clean the house. It seemed as though we had not lived in it for twenty years, with dust from the bombings lining every object.
My sister then came over with her five children; we had not seen her for five days. When I opened the door to them my heart sank, they all looked gaunt, dark circles under their eyes.
I soon learnt from my sister that her children have refused to eat for days, they cannot face it; fear now lining their stomachs. They ask my sister to accompany their every step, even to go to the bathroom – they do not want to be alone for a minute, petrified of what might happen to them.
They have not had electricity for days, so we heated some water with our gas burner so that they could at least wash in some kind of warmth.
As night fell, a neighbour told me that they had received a call from the Israeli military warning them to leave their home because a nearby building was being targeted. My neighbour’s house is but 60 metres away from mine. With nowhere to go, we had no choice but to sit and wait for the worst to happen.
Gaza crisis: latest news |
||
Tags: Conflict, gaza, gazablog, israel, occupiedpalestinianterritories
It is horrendous that anyone should have to go through this. My thoughts are with Mohammed and his family and all the people in Gaza at this terrible time.
Surely the last years have shown that bombing and violence are not the way out of this situation - its always the innocent that get in caught in the middle. Both communities need the support of the international community to find a negotiated settlement that will allow their people to live in peace.
Diane, Birmingham, UK
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm[...] Ali, who works for Oxfam UK, writes on the Oxfam blog from his home in Gaza City: Around midnight, Israeli jets hit the Palestinian Legislative Council building, 1km away from my [...]
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 pmDear colleagues: from El Salvador, CentralAmerica, we are suffering a lot with the news of Gaza. Many people here, whom suffering more than ten years of war (during 80s), send messages of solidarity to palestinian.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 pmWe hope Israel stop the war and agression to palestinian people.
With all our solidarity to you.
The Israeli military warning Gazans before a strike in a bid to avoid civilian casualties — unheard of in modern war, and yet Israel is excoriated for daring to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas.
As I understand it, Israel was until recently providing 70% of Gaza’s electricity. If the Hamas government can be smuggling in rockets and weaponry, why is it they can’t get enough fuel for the Gazans they are governing? This tells me all I need to know about where their true priorities lie.
There would be no blockade if Gazans had seized their chance in 2005, stopped all rocket attacks against israel, and put an end to weapons smuggling and stockpiling. But Hamas is politically committed to Israel’s destruction, and constant war. By voting Hamas into power on that platform, Gazans can hardly complain when Hamas belligerence triggers retaliation from Israel. Especially after repeated warnings and entreaties from Israel to stop the rocket fire at Israeli civilians. You cannot say that you haven’t been warned.
YS, Singapore, Singapore
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:45 amI agree with Lee but don’t think it’s relevant. This is not a blog from a member of Hamas… who says this guy even voted for Hamas? This is about someone - an innocent person - who is stuck in the middle of a war. His house might be destroyed, his kids might be killed, his livelihood will probably be lost.
This isn’t about politics, it’s about people.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 amThis is heart-rending. We feel so helpless, yet a deep deep sympathy for all those suffering unfairly in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine. In Watford we are trying to do something constructive by buying olive oil and soap supplied by a Palestinian community on the West Bank with which we are twinned. We hope Oxfam can continue to press for aid to be allowed into Gaza, and that we can insist that the international community wakes up to the urgent need to face the injustice of this conflict, and understand why frustration has led to violence.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:37 pmToday the 3rd Jan,have just heard of ground invasion and feel very helpless however the only thing I can do at this very minute is to look to the night sky to call upon God for mercy and in some way to intervene through someone to halt this awfulness.
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:40 pmMohammed and family,we think of you all the time and are trying everything possible to help from Ireland.
Our love is with you Byrne,Doyle and Kearney families
Hamas have to accept the majority of the blame for this suicide mission.Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005,in the hope that the Palestinians would use their newfound freedom to build a free and prosperrous state-one that would live live in peace,if not friendship with its Jewish neighbours.
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 pmThat didn’t happen Hamas objective was to provoke Israel to take this current action by being manipulated by Iran.
Only Israel gets lectured for over the top retailiation when it defends itself from missiles being lobbed at them.I know this is not going to solve the long term problems but Israel have no choice in fact the Hamas leadersip continues to goad them into this type of action.
Eddie .Canada
For most of the people - I’m here on the better side of the war… but to see all of the kids and families in Gaza and Israel suffering from this war is hurting me. I’m one of the injured people from Hamas missiles in the past 8 years, I got injured when I was in my university - studying. I hope all of this will be over soon, for both sides - I dont ever want another to feel like I have felt when I finished my day in the E.R.
And to Mohammed and his family - be strong, I hope that u get back to your life soon, and all of this will be over soon as possible. I wish u all the best.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:42 pm@Eddie - though it’s true that Israel withdrew from Gaza a few years ago, the events of the last week have made me question whether part of the reason for doing this was to make it easier for them to bomb the Strip without risking Israeli lives.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:00 pmHow can one build a state when locked in prison, without resources, commerce, and with no control over ones’ own destiny? If the Palestinians are to build a state, Israel must cease its occupation, and the international community must rebuild the institutions of government, commerce, and daily life. This continuing failure is a blight on all of humanity. Our governments have chosen to abdicate all responsibility for the millions living in horrific conditions to the few aid agencies still willing to work in an area where they are subject to arbitrary detention and killing. As with Darfur and Burma, and now Zimbabwe, we turn our backs under the pretext that any local “government” is legitimate if they do not threaten Western interests.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:48 amIf someone opens Google Earth can easily understand some important facts about this war. First, Palestinians that live in Gaza are living hard pushed in a confined space instead of the open space that Israelians live.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:34 am“I never felt more SAFE than when I walked UNARMED in the Indian Villages”~ William Penn during French Indian War
more: http://www.Vaboomer.com
January 5th, 2009 at 9:43 pmIt’s easy for most of you to say - Israelis live in a big space in their country, and the Gaza strip people is living in a very small place!
More then one million people put the hamas as their government, and now suffer because of that! When the rest of the world told them that the Hamas is doing a lot of bad things, and the Hamas will make them a lot of suffer - they didnt listen. I hope that now all of this will change- and the next government in the Gaza strip will be different and will make a better life for this people.
But please don’t say that israel is the blame for it - we are not perfect at all as a country, but we suffer all of this time from the hamas and cant any more. now Hamas is hiding inside Gaza City and using the people as a human shields.
January 6th, 2009 at 11:23 amI would have left a donation but the comments from the Israeli apologists have made me decide to give it to UNICEF instead.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:02 pmIsrael for decades has treated the Palestinians with utter contempt, demolishing houses, dividing people’s land and blockading food supplies and medecines. Hamas is not blameless for the current crisis, but pointing the finger at Hamas is like blaming the Polish resistance for the actions of the Nazis in world war 2.
The internatioal community tells us that Hamas was democratically elected. Wasn’t Hitler too ?
January 6th, 2009 at 5:02 pmNobody wants more problems for the Palestinians - but where was Oxfam and the rest of the so called ‘relief’ organizations while Israel was being rocketed from Gaza & their other neighbours ?
Oxfam needs to focus more on aid and less on politics !
Give to whoever you want but it is silly taking money away from Oxfam just because they have posted comments on their site by ‘ Israeli apologists’ . Just because they put up posts it does not mean to say they agree with the content. Surely, the whole point is that this is a discussion not a place for censorship, no?
By the way, I agree with you. Anyhow, Hamas is democratically elected, which people tend to forget. I think it is appalling that they are being used as a scape goat by the Israeli Government and the Amercian Government who uphold them to kill thousands of people.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:20 pmMohammed, I hope you are safe, and that God will keep you safe. I hope that this War will end soon, and with it the end to this terrible Israeli oppression. The people of Gaza, many of them, are refugees. Theirs is the land of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, and Sderot. It is their rightful land. The rockets are their voice of grievance to a world that chooses not to hear. It is true that this does not give them the right to harm Israelis. But Israel is the aggressor. It is bombing the Gazans so they will cease their demand for their land. It is called “Land for Peace”. That is no way to make peace!
January 6th, 2009 at 9:34 pmNow Gaza city is surrounded. Israel should let leave palestinians out of town. Refugee camps will and must be supported by the west. Let Hamas in town doing. It becomes clear Hamas (IRAN) holding the palestinians hostage. UN can go in en out of town / just besiege the town. no shooting. People get titer fo Hamas end leave Hamas town. Let journalists in.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:28 amHamas has been elected by the people. it.
Gaza like an other state in the world must be allowed to arm itself and protect its people.
Can one Armed State decide another cannot be armed?
If the killing of innocents continue and Governments cannot put a stop to it - then let the people immediately Boycott the companies and industrial institutions of the killers
January 9th, 2009 at 7:32 pmPeople in the UK can Write to their Local MP’s and Members of the House of Lords at the following site;
http://www.writetothem.com/
It does work, the site rates the MP’s if they respond or not.
I Believe there is an emergency debate in Parliament tomorrow (Thursday 15th January).
People should write to their MP’s and demand investigations and arrests warrants to be issued for Ehud Olmert and Israeli Politicians involved in perusing the war; IDF Commanders for planning the war, selecting Targets and Giving the Orders. The IDF Bomber Pilots, Helicopter Gunship Pilots, Tank Crews, Artillery Crews, Naval Gun Crews, Mortar Crews, Soldiers on the ground manning roadblocks and preventing aid getting through.
Thanks
January 14th, 2009 at 1:58 pmVB
Rob
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:00 amJason Kenny
Dear Mohammed,
I have some friends in Gaza and have been hearing similar stories from them about their families.
My wishes and prayers are with you and all the people of Palestine. I hope and pray, from the bottom of my heart, that the world can understand true meaning of peace and end the conflict in middle-east - Amen
Best,
Shumaila Amin
January 19th, 2009 at 1:59 pmKarachi, Pakistan