JABALIYA, Gaza Strip, 12 September 2004 — “I want my satchel and my school books,” wails five-year-old Nuzha as he searches through the rubble of his home, one of dozens of buildings destroyed by Israeli troops before they withdrew from this northern Gaza town early yesterday. Unable to take in the blow to his family, Nuzha Al-Bahri’s only concern is not to anger his teacher at the local school, which was also badly damaged in the three-day Israeli military operation.
His mother Maziuna, 33, who is trying to calm him suddenly dissolves into a flood of tears as she points to the wreckage of her destroyed home. She and five other relatives are now homeless. The Israeli soldiers, she explains, forced her and the children out of the house along with her husband, who is a doctor.
“They fired in our direction then forced us to stay near the tanks for several hours without water or even milk for the children while they destroyed our house,” she said. “This is a crime against humanity.” Piles of rubble and broken furniture strewn across a sandy patch of ground is all that remains of four homes razed by the army bulldozers. Clambering over the wreckage, dozens of women and children search for anything they can salvage.
Similar scenes of devastation were also seen in the neighboring villages of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia and Jabaliya’s refugee camp after the army withdrew. According to initial figures released by the governor of the northern Gaza region, close to 30 houses were completely destroyed by the army, many of them two- or three-story buildings, along with shops and factories.
Another 20 or so houses were damaged, along with two schools and a centre run by the ministry of social affairs. According to a Palestinian security official, the damage caused by the invasion was likely to run to several hundred million dollars.
Khalil Samara, head of the Jabaliya municipality, told AFP the main priority was getting basic services back up-and-running, such as water and electricity which had been cut off for days, and trying to repair the damage done to the various roads and neighborhoods.
The army kicked off its raid Wednesday in the densely populated northern sector of the Gaza Strip in a failed bid to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel. Aisha Abu Al-Rez doesn’t feel any luckier than Maziuna Al-Bahri even though her house was only partially damaged. “I’m afraid the house is going to collapse on my children’s heads,” she said.
“Not even the trees were spared destruction. I have never seen anything like this. They have cut off the water, the electricity, and they kill children with bullets or they starve them to death,” she said. “What can you say?”
