When we woke up yesterday morning there were people on the streets for the first time in days. Whole families, girls, women, fathers, children. They appeared to be coming from the north of the Gaza Strip, fleeing their homes. The majority were walking, some were on donkey carts. There were a few cars and trucks but each had up to 10 people crushed inside. They were carrying their belongings, such things as mattresses and bed covers. My grandfather who lives with us, watched for a while and said: “This is exactly like the immigration of Palestinians into Gaza in 1948.”
Overnight there were more airstrikes, heavy-artillery shelling and the tanks have been coming deeper into Gaza. So you can’t blame people for seeking safety.
Alaa, my wife, nine months pregnant, is nervously hanging on and I’m thanking God she hasn’t gone into labor yet. Medical check-ups are out of the question as most of the clinics are closed. When she’s born, we’ll call my daughter Sommayya. But, the later the better. I don’t want our first baby arriving in these conditions. The thing is I’m afraid this will be a long conflict and every day will be worse than the last.
We’re still coming to terms with the death of my father, killed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday as the ground war began. When you’re in shock you don’t really feel much pain. But when you stay in the house, looking at your father’s things, recalling the last conversations you had with him, it is sad beyond belief. I know I’m in the same situation as many, many families in Gaza.
When the Israelis take complete control of Gaza I think they will launch a large scale detention campaign and arrest the men aged between 15 and 50 to interrogate them for information. Of course, all the wanted men have gone underground.
Because we’re a family in mourning, neighbors and friends have been coming to the house to offer condolences. They have nothing to talk about other than the crisis. And the overwhelming feeling I get is that ordinary people who find themselves locked in this conflict are angry with Hamas. Hamas is supposed to be the government; they have been provoking the Israelis with their rockets and putting people at risk, yet now their leaders have vanished from sight leaving no plans to provide food, medicines or any kind of security for us. Of course, Hamas still has its supporters whose minds will never be changed. But more and more, that is what I’m hearing. The senior commanders of Hamas have gone underground and left their people behind.
