From the Liveblog of
Friday, November 8, 2024
‘Every night, I pray to God that I’ll die’: A conversation with a Palestinian about conditions in Gaza
The Maariv daily publishes a conversation one of its reporters had with an acquaintance in Gaza about daily life in the Strip during the war.
The man is from Gaza City, but was forced to flee his home due to the fighting and is now living in a tent in Khan Younis.
“You cannot turn over freely in your sleep, or even stand up. If you want to go to the bathroom, you might accidentally step on your son or daughter’s leg or even on his stomach.”
“When I sleep at night, I pray to God that I’ll die, and when I wake up in the morning, it hurts that I’m still alive.
“The tent is hot in the summer, and cold in the winter,” he says. “Everyone is anxiously waiting for the winter storms that will surely come. When it rains, the water seeps through the tent. I hope you don’t ever have to live in a tent.”
The Palestinian says schools have become shelters for the displaced and the few “temporary schools” that have begun operating don’t have desks, chairs or textbooks, so very few children are enrolled.
People are afraid to leave their tents because there are constant bombings. “There are constant attacks, and we don’t know who the target is. To maintain our security, we reduce traffic.”
There’s not enough water or medicine and medicine for serious illnesses is non-existent, he says.
The Palestinian shares the high levels of inflation: a kilogram of sugar currently costs NIS 50 ($13) and a liter of oil is at least NIS 40 ($10.67) at a time when almost no one can work and afford such prices. The man was particularly frustrated about the lack of cigarettes in Gaza, which Israel has blocked to prevent Hamas price-gouging. “This is an abuse of us, not them… There are some who say we are ready for the war to continue for years, as long as they allow in cigarettes.”
There’s constant theft and fights between families, further harming the general mood throughout the enclave, the Gaza man says.
October saw the lowest amount of aid enter Gaza this year, according to Israeli and UN figures. Five hundred trucks entered Gaza every day on average before the war. Just over 1,000 trucks entered Gaza all of last month.
Even the little that does enter the Strip is heavily looted by thieves operating on behalf of crime families and Hamas.
“All the residents of Gaza need psychological treatment… The noise of the drones, which is very loud at night, is a major cause of anxiety, especially for women and children, not to mention the attacks themselves and all of the dead and wounded,” he says.
Parents have been forced to send their children to beg in the streets for money, and they’re in constant fear for their well-being while they’re gone, he continues.
Asked what he thinks of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the man says that the majority of Palestinians in Gaza consider it to have been a serious crime and hold Hamas fully responsible for the “moral and political bankruptcy.”
“On the other hand, Gazans don’t like what Israel is doing — the attacks and the killing,” he continues, explaining that Palestinians want Israel to end Hamas’s control of Gaza but not in such a destructive way.
He adds that the majority of Gazans want to leave the Strip and would do so if the crossings were open. “We don’t want to stay in the Strip if Hamas remains in power.”
As for his message to the Israeli public, the Palestinian says he wants Israelis to know that not all Gazans are Hamas.
“Just as not all Israelis are religious Zionists. You must understand that in the Gaza Strip, there are many people who want peace and to live beside Israeli people, especially after the crime committed by Hamas on October 7,” he says.
The conversation was cut short because the Palestinian’s phone battery died and the electricity in his tent to recharge it was limited.
