Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine

17/01/2025

This is a message Israeli settlers are plastering across the West Bank to terrorize Palestinians and pressure them to leave their homeland.

Community Peacemaker Teams builds partnerships to transform violence and oppression. Over 35 years of action for peace and justice.

17/01/2025

The UK Government must do its part to ensure this pause turns rapidly into a permanent ceasefire. This must be a starting point for justice and accountability, not an endpoint that allows the Israeli authorities to continue their blockade, occupation and oppression of Palestinians.

18 NGOs demand UK Government ensure Gaza cessation of hostilities leads to justice and accountability.

15/01/2025

Self-defence? Avoiding harm to civilians?

An Israeli military dog attacked 3-year-old Omar in the Palestinian town of Qabatiya near Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.

14/01/2025

Tomorrow, 15th, at 4pm
Online and free
Please register using
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/a8TCcjMlQg-IYeOdoq4stQ #/registration

14/01/2025

THIS IS IN THE WEST BANK. NOT GAZA.
'It happened on Wednesday morning. Hamza and Reda Bsharat, cousins aged ten and eight, were sitting outside their home in the West Bank village of Tamoun, near Nablus.

"They were getting ready to go to school," says Amar, Hamza's father, who said they were in the house's yard. But for them, the school day never started.

The two children were killed in an IDF drone strike. Another cousin, Adam Adin Ahmed Bsharat, 23, was killed beside them. The army claims that the strike was targeting what they identified as a squad that was laying improvised explosives.

"These are children aged eight and ten. What explosives are they talking about?" wondered Amar. Haaretz also asked the army whether it still stands behind its initial statement, but it declined to respond.

The family's suffering did not end with the strike. "The army entered the house," says Amar. "The soldiers broke everything, beat a paramedic, and prevented him from getting close." He says they even drove the mothers away, aiming their weapons at them. "My son was in his mother's arms, and they took him, pointed a rifle at her and said, 'Go into the house.'"

Amar says that soldiers also entered the family's houses, all located next to each other, leaving chaos behind them. "They also entered my brother's house and broke things there, and entered my 70-year old mother's house, ransacked it and told her not to move."

He says that, at that point, the soldiers wrapped the children's bodies in blankets and took them away. Only after several hours, at around 5 P.M., were the bodies returned to the mourning families. "If there was a problem with the children, they wouldn't give us their bodies," says Amar in anger.

He says that army representatives told him that the strike was a mistake, in their words. "But that doesn't help me," he says. "This is my son, who was born after ten years of marriage by IVF, and now the army comes and tells me that it is sorry."

Amar made it clear that the army looked into him and the rest of the family and found nothing. "Not me, not my son, and no one from the family – we have no problem with anyone. We have no relative in jail and no shahid," he said.

He adds that he, his brother, and nephew, Adam, who was killed in the strike, work in West Bank settlements in the Jordan Valley. "I was at work in the Naama settlement when this happened, and my brother was at Petza'el," he said.

Tamoun Mayor Naji Bani Odeh told Haaretz that the strike has caused anger and anxiety among residents. "Everyone is scared, making sure that their children won't go onto the balcony or roof. Everyone was surprised. No one knows why this happened. "

He adds that this was not the first air strike in the village. "They bombed Tamoun the day before," he says. "But that was at night, on the street, and not in their house. They were adults, not minors."

The cousins were killed on Wednesday were not the first innocents killed by recent IDF air strikes in the West Bank. In late December, a drone strike killed two women in the Tul Karm refugee camp. They were killed in their homes.

An IDF internal probe claimed that the strike was targeting gunmen, and that a rare malfunction occurred during the strike that resulted in the women's deaths.

"The incident was investigated, findings will be examined, and the lessons learned. The IDF regrets any harm to those uninvolved," an official statement read.'

***

13/01/2025

'The destruction of a territory’s entire healthcare system in isolation - that is, without considering all of the other horrors inflicted on Gaza - imposes a death sentence on countless Palestinians. Think of thousands of cancer patients. Think diabetes, asthma, heart conditions, kidney disease. Think of the 155,000 pregnant women and new mothers, or the 130 babies born each day. Think of how the destruction of a healthcare system interacts with depriving a population of their basic needs - sufficient clean water, nutritious food, shelter with protection from the elements. Think of how it interacts with overcrowding, lack of hygiene, open sewage. Think of how it interacts with the deterioration in physical health driven by the acute stress and collapsing mental wellbeing of apocalyptic circumstances. Consider how these catastrophic circumstances have now prevailed for 66 weeks, with constant decline.'

Far from being exaggerated, a new study underlines how Gaza's official death toll is a severe underestimate

13/01/2025

'Israeli soldiers, many of whom hold dual citizenship, are reportedly receiving urgent calls from Israeli authorities, advising them to return to Israel to avoid potential legal action abroad.

Haaretz reports that about 30 soldiers have been warned against traveling, as Israel’s army and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have established a special unit to monitor and assess the legal risks for soldiers facing international prosecution.'

A Brussels-based human rights group has submitted over 1,000 names of Israeli soldiers to the ICC, linking them to war crimes.

12/01/2025

'A clip of a soldier tormenting a young man with Down syndrome, found on the phone of a human rights activist and mother of seven, led to her arrest and abuse. In separate incidents, her son's coat was seized because of its color, and her daughter was ordered to remove her bra at a checkpoint. Such is the life in Hebron

An Israel Defense Forces soldier is seen abusing a helpless young Palestinian who has Down syndrome. The soldier shoves him hard against a wall, points his rifle at his victim's body, threatens, curses and barks. His victim starts coughing and the soldier screams at him in Arabic: "Shut up!" And then shouts: "Where's your phone? Give it to me!" There is no phone. The soldier then demands: "ID card."

The frightened young man, who is about 25, somehow retrieves his ID from his pocket, only to have the soldier fling it angrily to the ground. The soldier calls him a "son of a w***e," uttering something foul about his mother, which is unprintable here, and then declares: "I am going to shoot you."

The soldier spits curses at the helpless man, who coughs and begins to retch, apparently due to the pressure and fear. An Israeli police officer observes the scene, but makes no move to come to the aid of the helpless fellow, who is Samur Rajabi, a resident of a neighborhood in Hebron. A military jeep appears on the scene – and the video is cut off. It is hard to watch.

The clip was taken by an anonymous passerby this past October in a part of the city's H-2 zone that is inhabited by Jewish settlers. Subsequently, it was disseminated on social media, mainly among Palestinians. One of those who saw it was Fatma Jabbar, who held onto it in her phone. For the army of the occupation, in the cradle of apartheid in Hebron, that would turn out to be an offense that demands harsh punishment.

Several times a day, every Palestinian who lives in the area occupied by Hebron's settlers passes through the roadblocks that chop up the city. Every such passage involves an inspection of their phone by soldiers. The Palestinians already know that they should erase anything that might incense the troops, but Jabbar kept the video of the abuse – and it condemned her to her own abuse by the soldiers.

We are in a commercial building in downtown Hebron, occupied by law offices and investment firms, beauty salons and fitness studios. On the ninth floor is a spacious restaurant that offers grilled meat on skewers, ice cream, and in a display case in the center of the space, watches and jewelry as well. Down below in the busy street, a Palestinian traffic warden affixes parking boots to cars whose owners neglected to slip the required coins into the municipal parking meter. Fatma Jabbar waits in a private room deep inside the restaurant with B'Tselem investigator Manal Jabari.

Jabbar is a handsome woman of 41, who wears a hijab and talks a mile a minute. It is clear that she wants to recount every detail of what happened to her when she was caught with the cursed video. She also asks that we not photograph her face, so her children – she has seven – won't see. Jabbar's husband is chronically ill, and two of her teenaged children have left school to work at odd jobs in the market to support the family.

Every time a Palestinian passes through a roadblock, soldiers inspect their phone. The Palestinians already know that they should erase anything that might incense the troops.

She lives in the Jaber neighborhood, part of H-2. (The 1997 Hebron Protocol led to the city's division into sections H-1 and H-2; the latter includes the city's small Jewish settlement, and its attendant strict security restrictions for Palestinians.) Her home fronts the road that leads from the Kiryat Arba settlement just east of the city into Hebron itself, a road that is for Jews only. For the past five years, Jabbar has been documenting what is happening in her city as a volunteer for B'Tselem – the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. She says she was no longer able to keep quiet in light of the daily injustices that take place there.

After she films an incident, Jabbar immediately sends the footage to Manal Jabari, coordinator of the organization's documentation project, and then erases the clip from her cellphone. Since October 7, it is considered dangerous to make video recordings here; most of the volunteers are wary about pulling out a device with which they can film.

Some 280 Palestinian families who have nowhere else to go still live in the Jaber neighborhood. Only cars belonging to Jews are allowed there; even Palestinian ambulances are prohibited from entering. Is there anywhere else in the whole world like this?
Fatma Jabbar after her arrest. The soldiers released her with the plastic handcuffs on, filming her as she went into her house.

Since the war broke out in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the heavy hand here has been even harsher. During the first four months, Palestinian residents of H-2 were imprisoned in their homes nearly all day long. Purchasing food and medicine was permitted during only one hour a day; because the army and the settlers prevented the three local shops from opening, many residents were unable to obtain provisions even then. There were also homes where the army installed coils of barbed wire at doorsteps to prevent residents from exiting. After four months, going out was permitted but only during daylight hours. At night there is no exit, even in emergencies. After 5 P.M., no one dares step outside. When Jabbar or one of her children dare to go up on the roof of their home – even that is forbidden – the soldiers immediately chase them away.

Twenty meters from Jabbar's home stands inspection point No. 102. Every exit from, and return to, her home entails passing through a metal detector. A while ago, Jabbar was heading home with her 15-year-old daughter, and a metal band in her daughter's bra set off the detector. The soldiers ordered the girl to take off her bra, but because there was no female soldier at the barrier, she refused to strip, and was denied passage. Ultimately, she stayed over at the home of relatives outside the neighborhood. Another time, the soldiers at the barrier confiscated the new jacket Fatma had bought her son because of its color: olive green. Palestinians are forbidden to go around wearing olive-green jackets. Her son, 12 years old, was detained for an hour at the barrier, until he relented and went home without his jacket. "I will buy him a jacket in a different color the moment I have money," his mother tells us.

Manal Jabari, the B'Tselem field researcher, shows us another video filmed recently at the same roadblock. A soldier is preventing a woman from bringing a sack of pita in to her home. The woman asks "to see the captain," and the soldier says that he is the captain. In Hebron, where every bastard is a captain, the woman had to relinquish her flatbread.

On Tuesday morning, December 3, Jabbar stepped outside her home and spoke on the phone with a friend. A white Israeli jeep driving along the road toward the inspection point passed by her, and then immediately returned with soldiers. The driver claimed that Jabbar had filmed him driving. Jabbar denied it, but was ordered to accompany the soldiers to the barrier. There, they handcuffed her, confiscated her cellphone and made her sit on the ground. A few minutes later, the soldiers came back with the phone. "You w***e, why do you have this video?" they yelled at her, referring to the 2023 clip of the abuse of the helpless man they had found on her phone, which is regarded as evidence of a crime.

The soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded her. The children began to cry. She was thrust into a military vehicle that began to drive away. Through the cloth that covered her eyes, she saw one of the soldiers taking a selfie with her.

About an hour and a half later, relates Jabbar, a military jeep arrived, out of which four soldiers emerged – one of whom was the same abusive soldier from the video. "Here's the person who filmed you," one of the soldiers told him. The soldier began cursing her. Again "w***e" and "bitch." Jabbar claimed that it wasn't she who had taken the video, that she had received it via social media.

Jabbar says the soldiers seemed to be happy she'd been caught. The soldier from the clip took her cellphone and left with his buddies. She was left sitting on the ground, handcuffed. After about three hours, her captors decided to release her, but not before they led her by foot to a different neighborhood, called Ar-Ras, a distance from her own quarter, where they released her. In the meantime, her children had come home from school and did not know where their mother was. At about 2 P.M., soldiers arrived at her house, and found only her children. The soldiers said they would come back later and left. Jabbar returned, meanwhile.

At 7 P.M., the soldiers were back. They ordered her to get dressed; the army was waiting outside. The soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded her. The children began to cry. She was thrust into a military vehicle that began to drive away. Through the cloth that covered her eyes, she saw one of the soldiers taking a selfie with her. "We've nabbed Fatma," he boasted as he filmed.

Jabbar says she was afraid. The driver handled the vehicle wildly, veering from side to side and braking abruptly so that she would get bumped. Finally, they arrived at the Kiryat Arba police station, where she a dispute broke out about what to do with her. Apparently, the police did not understand why she had been brought in.

Asked for a response, the IDF Spokesman sent Haaretz the following statement this week: "As part of a standard security check at a checkpoint, pictures of IDF forces were found on Fatma Jabbar's telephone. As a result, she was detained for a check by the police, after which she was released. The claims that her device held documentation of violence by soldiers are mendacious and baseless."

At about 8:30 that same evening, soldiers brought her back to No. 102 and made her sign a form. They released her with the plastic handcuffs on, filming her as she went into her house. She didn't sleep all night: The soldiers had ordered her to go to the police station at 8 A.M. and she feared she'd be arrested. In the morning the investigator there asked her what she had filmed and why. She repeated that she had not filmed the video of the abuse, as though documenting it was some sort of crime. Finally they gave her cellphone back and let her leave.'

***

09/01/2025

'And the policy of Israel’s targeting of healthcare is not limited to Gaza. The WHO documented 187 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank in 2022 alone. In the current Gaza genocide, the healthcare system has been decimated by unrelenting attacks. Medical equipment has been deliberately destroyed, and unless the ECG and MRI machines were threatening IDF soldiers, it is likely that their destruction was an act of sabotage, not self-defense. Unless Gazan embryos have superpowers, we can probably conclude that the destruction of 4,000 embryos at an IVF clinic in Gaza was not self-defense either.

It is not just buildings, equipment, ambulances, and embryos, but also medical staff and patients who have been targeted. For instance, in the massacre at al-Shifa Hospital, most of the medical staff were either arrested or murdered. This also happened during the war in Syria, with 601 attacks on over 350 healthcare facilities in 11 years of war. Yet this is not the same scale as we have seen in Gaza.

Destroying as many forms of healthcare as possible and depriving a region of essential medical supplies means that those who are not killed directly by bombs or bullets will either die of their wounds, diseases, or chronic illnesses unrelated to the war — all of which would otherwise be treatable. By blocking the entry of medical supplies such as equipment for sterilization, Israel has turned hospitals into death traps. In terms of efficiency in exterminating people, targeting healthcare clearly gets you “more bang for your buck.” This means that, in genocidal campaigns, healthcare is a prime target.

The Gaza genocide shows us that whether hospitals are safe havens or targets depends not on the words of the Geneva Conventions but on the political will to protect them'

The bar for hospitals to lose protected status under international law is set very high. Those conditions were not met for any of the 36 hospitals in Gaza that Israel destroyed.

08/01/2025

'The UN's special representative on conflict-related sexual violence asked to investigate Hamas' alleged crimes on October 7 and towards the hostages, but Israel refused her request to access Israeli detention facilities to examine claims of IDF abuse. Israeli women's rights groups warn this could lead to Israel, instead of Hamas, being added to the UN's sexual violence blacklist

Israel is blocking the United Nations from investigating sexual crimes committed by Hamas during its October 7 attack, fearing it would require granting access to probe allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli detention.

A thorough investigation could have led to Hamas being added to the UN's blacklist of entities suspected of sexual violence in conflicts.

Pramila Patten, the UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, has requested permission to investigate Hamas' alleged crimes. However, she stipulated that her team must also be allowed to access Israeli detention facilities to examine claims of sexual violence by Israeli soldiers. Israel has refused the request.

Patten has urged Israel to sign a framework agreement with her office, committing to measures against sexual violence in conflicts under UN guidance. Similar agreement have been signed with Ukraine in 2022, which included commitments to protect prisoners of war from sexual violence.

Patten's March report, based on a visit to Israel last year, documented sexual violence during Hamas' attack and alleged continued assaults on hostages held in Gaza. These findings were included in UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' annual report to the Security Council on sexual violence in conflict. However, Guterres did not add Hamas to the UN's blacklist of entities likely responsible for sexual crimes, prompting criticism in Israel.

Patten's office confirmed it is exploring the possibility of a future mission to the region. "The Office is exploring a future mission to the region after receiving an invitation from the Palestinian Authority regarding reports of conflict-related sexual violence against Palestinians as well as outreach by the Government of Israel for a follow-up visit on the 7 October attacks and their aftermath."

However, Patten's office warned that Israel's resistance to UN investigations into alleged crimes attributed to it could backfire, according to representatives of the Israel's Women's Network, who met with Patten's team in New York last month.

They further said they were told that Israel's approach could result in its inclusion on the UN's blacklist of entities responsible for sexual violence in conflicts, while Hamas could remain off the list. Another source familiar with the matter confirmed these details.

Maya Schocken, head of the International Department at the Israel's Women's Network (and a relative of Haaretz's publisher, full disclosure), said: "The clear concern is that Israel could be added to the blacklist of states and entities responsible for sexual violence in conflict, while the terrorist organization Hamas stays off the list."

Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, head of Bar-Ilan University's Rackman Center, which aims to improve the legal status of women in Israel, helped bring Patten to Israel previously and continues to push for her return. She
emphasized the importance of Patten's work, noting that her report was the first major international acknowledgment of Hamas' sexual crimes.

The two previously held senior positions on the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and Prof. Halperin-Kaddari underscores Patten's seriousness and integrity.

She notes that a year after the previous investigation, with new information emerging about the events of October 7 and the abuse of captives in Gaza, failing to allow a comprehensive investigation by Patten represents "a missed opportunity for a definitive international record and recognition for the victims – not to mention the obligation to thoroughly investigate the new evidence to uncover the truth."

She adds that cooperating with Patten offers Israel an opportunity to show UN bodies that it is sincerely investigating the allegations against itself, which could also reduce the risk of Israel being added to the blacklist of entities suspected of sexual violence in conflicts.

Following Patten's March report, women's rights organizations in Israel, including the Israel's Women's Network and Hadassah, an American Jewish volunteer women's organization, have pressed UN officials to include Hamas on the blacklist.

In response, Patten wrote that many armed groups took part in the October 7 attack and in order to attribute sexual violence to a specific group requires time and greater access for investigation.

In the same letter, Patten also referenced her recommendation to the Israeli government, which appeared in the original report she published, to grant UN bodies with investigative mandates access to perform their work.

Among the bodies she mentioned was the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel – an organization often viewed in Jerusalem as holding a biased, anti-Israel stance. Patten emphasized in her letter that the commission is committed to independence and impartiality.

In the summer, the commission published a report on the October 7 attack, which included direct responsibility for gender-based violence in "several locations in southern Israel" attributed to "Hamas members and other armed groups."

The commission noted in the report that it had not received direct access to testimonies and evidence that could have strengthened and expanded its conclusions, and that the Israeli government had even restricted its access.

Israel's lack of cooperation with international figures investigating violence is one of the key failures highlighted in a report released this week by the Israel's Women's Network and the Women and War Documentation and Research Collective, a group of researchers and activists collected and cataloged information about the sexual violence that occurred on October 7 and in its aftermath.

The report, authored by Dr. Sarai Aharoni and Shira Barbirai-Shaham, focuses on failures both before and after October 7. It critiques the non-implementation of government and UN resolutions related to the security of women in conflict and emergency situations, and the failure to establish a state body with the authority to document and address the consequences of sexual violence in the Hamas attack.

The report also highlights how the issue of sexual violence has been appropriated for public relations purposes, often neglecting the needs of the victims.

Additionally, the report addresses the lack of public involvement in truth-finding processes and accountability for the sexual violence of October 7. The authors stress: "It was both possible and necessary for information regarding the status of evidence collection and a projected timeline for filing indictments and prosecution to be released a year after the attack."

Aharoni pointed out that the fact that both the state and civil society are relying on UN bodies for truth-finding reveals the extent of the authorities' failure. "Where does the UN write reports? In Haiti, Sudan. Countries with functioning legal systems – do the work, conduct investigations, hold trials," she told Haaretz.

However, the need for an independent investigation does not negate the necessity of cooperating with international bodies. Patten's office typically guides countries on how to handle and investigate sexual crimes, while also demanding independent access for such investigations.

Patten's office encourages countries to sign cooperation frameworks for this purpose. Schocken notes, "The cooperation between Ukraine and the UN has provided survivors of violence with support, resources, and global recognition. We, on the other hand, are losing out in every direction."

In response, Patten's office stated: "The Office is exploring a future mission to the region ... If such a mission were to be conducted, it would be strictly in accordance with the Office's mandate from the Security Council and will not be 'investigative' in nature."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded, stating that the ministry "is working to coordinate the visit of Pramila Patten to Israel with her team and all relevant Israeli authorities. The International Organizations Department at the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Mission to the UN are in constant communication with Pramila Patten and her team in order to bring to the international community's attention the crimes committed by Hamas, including the horrific sexual crimes that occurred on October 7 and continue to be perpetrated since.

"The Foreign Ministry initiated Patten's first visit to Israel in cooperation with civil society and places great importance on her efforts regarding Hamas' sexual crimes."'

***

07/01/2025

Brilliant pertinent question.
https://x.com/LaylaMoran/status/1876697941483655453?t=f9t7KdkDK3T0TmaOOCh-_Q&s=19

04/01/2025

"At first drones scattered leaflets calling for immediate evacuation. Jabalya was a very crowded camp at this stage because thousands of DPs had come there from other places and were living in local schools, which had been converted to absorption centers. The open areas in the camp filled up with tents, and it was so crowded that it was hard to walk in the street.

"When the ground operation started [this past October], it was accompanied by heavy bombing. People were afraid for their children's lives, and were forced to flee. We were forced to leave on the fourth day of the operation, after a night of terror. A drone, or some sort of Israeli aircraft that had been fired at the roof of our house, hit the solar panels up there. Tanks fired shells and hit the upper floors. It was dark, we were scared and didn't know where to go, but we realized that we had to get out of there.
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"In the days that followed, the Israel Defense Forces attacked a water-distribution point near us a few times. People were being starved and were kept thirsty so they would be forced to evacuate. In the end, we found ourselves walking in total darkness, with tanks moving to the right and to the left, scattering sand and dust on us. The whole way was filled with destruction."

– Mohammed, 31, Jabalya

The army forced us to march between dozens of tanks along a narrow route full of dead bodies and body parts. There were hundreds of children with us. They walked next to us and saw everything.
Rania

* * *

"For 15 days we were besieged in the Khalifa bin Zayed School in Beit Lahia. On the first day of the siege, we evacuated the top floors of the school. All the DPs gathered on the ground floor, in order to escape the shelling. We baked saj bread, a kind of lafa [flatbread], and divided it among us. Other than that, we didn't eat anything. At one stage there was no water. Everyone found a way to moisten their lips and tongue a little, but there was already no drinking water.

"As the days went by, the distress became more acute. The sick suffered, especially because the medications had run out and the supply had stopped. Mothers of babies couldn't get diapers so they ripped up their clothes to make diapers out of them. It was impossible to move, it was impossible to go out. We put pails in the middle of the room for toilets.

"In the end we had no choice and we left. The army forced us to march between dozens of tanks along a narrow route full of dead bodies and body parts. There were hundreds of children with us. They walked next to us and saw everything."

– Rania, 26, Beit Lahiya

* * *

"We stayed in the northern Strip even after the military siege started, because there wasn't a moment when I felt that it was safe to leave. I stayed in spaces between buildings, found cover where possible, because my home doesn't exist any longer. I was saved from death a few times – the last time was today: The place where I had been was hit a minute after I left. A minute separated me from death.

"In terms of food, the situation has been the same for a year – bread and canned items. We eat ful, hummus, white beans. It's been the same since the army started the siege. Our diet is based on food that we stored in advance and on humanitarian aid, which we're forced to buy at exorbitant prices. Water is a huge problem. The desalination facilities aren't working, most of the wells have been destroyed, the pumping stations have been damaged. The truth is that we are forced to drink water that is not fit for drinking.

"I've already become used to life without electricity. From the moment the sun sets in the afternoon, I live in total darkness. I feel like a bat. In truth, I have no idea how I'll cope with the first light [we see] after the war. It will hurt my eyes for sure.

"If there is one thing I would like the world to know, it's that we do not love death. We love life. We are still breathing, and we don't want to die."

Omar, 29, Beit Lahia

If there is one thing I would like the world to know, it's that we do not love death. We love life. We are still breathing, and we don't want to die.
Omar

* * *

"People don't understand why we didn't move to the south, why we stayed on in a danger zone, but it's not so simple. Every family that stayed here has its reasons. There are families where someone is disabled, or has with a serious disease. How are they supposed to move on foot to the southern part of the Strip? They would rather die at home.

"Besides that, there are people who wanted to leave but the rest of their family decided to stay, so they had to stay too. I stayed in Jabalya with my husband and his family – 30 people altogether. His mother is in a wheelchair, where are we going to go with her? We don't have a vehicle, we don't even have a donkey.

"Another thing is that the southern Strip is completely packed with people. Here the people who went left behind empty buildings, and you can settle in the buildings that are still standing. It's better than being in tents where you sink in muddy water. It's better to have a roof above you, even if it could collapse on you.

"And there is also the matter of hunger, but that changes all the time. It's not that we didn't have anything to eat over a long period of time – there just wasn't enough, and there was no variety. On the worst days, we lived off bread that was baked from animal fodder, but at other times there were oranges, guavas, spinach, hubeiza [wild mallow], beetroot and all kinds of other things. We made do with that."
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– Mona, 31, Jabalya

* * *

"This time wasn't like times before. The army advanced deeply and operated in a very broad way. They worked in an orderly fashion and blew up whole areas. The entire quarter where we lived was destroyed. Even before that, we had had to leave our home, but when the army arrived we had to leave our present house, too. It became too dangerous there.

"We arranged a place for ourselves in a third house, with relatives, near Kamal Adwan Hospital [in Beit Lahia]. Being close to the hospital didn't guarantee that we would be protected. The army attacked Kamal Adwan during this operation and also before that. I have quite a few relatives working on the hospital's medical teams, and some of them were killed.

"In the meantime, the army is continuing to destroy more and more houses, and also farming areas. They're creating a buffer between Gaza City and the towns in the northern Strip. And, of course, there are casualties all the time. The army is also launching attacks on DP absorption centers, and it's now impossible for me to count how many people that I know who have been killed. Women, children. And it's also impossible to know what has happened to other people: Either they have been arrested by the army or they are buried under the rubble."

– Basel, 27, Beit Lahia
Destruction in northern Gaza last month. "The tank began firing at our house. We were sitting in the living room on the sofas, and in a second we were all lying on the floor, paralyzed with fear."Credit: Reuters

* * *

"Our house was hit before, but remained standing. Until now. Now we have nothing. The house was destroyed completely, and not only our house: The whole neighborhood is gone. I left for the western part of Gaza, because the situation in the south is very bad. If it were good, I would go there. We are moving here between schools and destroyed homes whose owners have left to go further south.

"The only source of food, from what I see, comes from the [humanitarian] aid, and it actually enters regularly but isn't properly distributed. Hamas oversees the distribution, and there are robbers and thieves. Merchandise also comes in, but it's very expensive – totally unreal prices. A kilo of potatoes costs 60 shekels [about $16]. And sometimes the problem isn't a shortage of food, but the shortage of fuel and wood. There are days when the bakeries cannot operate even though they have flour, because they have no way to turn on the ovens.

"We can hardly get hold of drinking water. There are trucks distributing water that comes from humanitarian initiatives. They drive between the absorption centers and people fill gallons of it, but the trucks don't always show up and that's the only source of water.

"And there are arrests, a lot of arrests. No one knows what the army's criteria are, what determines who they're going to take. I know people who were arrested, some are in Hamas and some have no connection to Hamas. There's no way to know the reasons and the considerations."

– Yazan, 28, Jabalya

There are arrests, a lot of arrests. No one knows what the army's criteria are, what determines who they're going to take.
Yazan

* * *

"First of all, there is no electricity, almost none at all. We rely on the solar panels, and lately it's been cloudy. We live in constant fear and are forced to move from place to place, to look for a safe place, or food. The feeling at the moment is that the next bombing raid is about to happen, that you don't know whether you will survive the day or not. Every minute it feels like your life could end right now. I work in the field [as part of community-oriented initiatives] and make the rounds between schools and absorption centers – and everything is exposed. Danger lurks around every corner. We are afraid of the Jews all the time, even though we barely see them.

"Why did we stay in the north? At first we left like everyone else and found a place in Nuseirat [a refugee camp in central Gaza]. We moved to a zone that was supposed to be safe, but two weeks later the house next door was bombed. My parents and my younger brother were wounded, and we understood that the leaflets of the occupation are spreading lies. They are a tool to get us to move us from one place to another – not a promise that the new place will be safe. The next day we decided to return home.

"I want to talk about two incidents. One, when the occupation took up a position not far away and started shelling the whole area heavily. My mother peeked out the window and saw a tank standing at the end of our street. We understood that we had a problem, and hadn't even managed to move when the tank began firing at our house. We were sitting in the living room on the sofas, and in a second we were all lying on the floor, paralyzed with fear. The firing was intense, and we decided to crawl, all of us, into the small space of the kitchen. We lay there without moving our heads, because the shooting went on and on. Until, fortunately for us, it stopped.

"The second case involved my neighbor, a member of the volunteer team. Most of my friends had fled south, but he and I remained in the north. We became closer during the war. When we heard shelling nearby, we would warn each other, escape together. One night, my room was completely lit up by powerful explosions that were very nearby. I shuddered in fear, my body folded into itself, I felt paralyzed. But as soon as I managed to calm down a little, and I understood that I was still alive, I went down to check the situation of the people I know.

"Within a short time I discovered that my friend had been killed, along with his mother. I have no words to describe the feeling that flooded me at that moment. A combination of total helplessness, profound grief and endless pain."

– Deena, 28, Beit Lahia

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