Palestinian actor and director Hossam Al-Madhoun, who lives in Gaza, opens his blog on the Mediapart website with the news that he received a bag of flour for 5 times the normal price. In it, he describes in detail the daily lives of Gaza residents and the condition of its people under siege and continuous bombing day and night.
December 5: Butterfly effect
The writer describes how he obtained a bag sufficient for two weeks to feed 18 people in the house, hoping to obtain half a bottle of cooking gas that would last for 10 days at three times the original price, and how people began cutting down live trees to obtain firewood, concluding that poor Gaza would not survive. It has a tree, where the olive trees are cut down and all the street trees are swept away, because desperate situations always push people to take desperate measures.
Desperate situations always push people to take desperate actions.
On the way back from the market, and in the wooden cart pulled by a frail and weak donkey, the writer describes a small white butterfly flying alongside the donkey. The sight of it pleased him, before he remembered that in some cultures the white butterfly is a sign of imminent death, and “although I do not believe With these myths, the idea never left me,” he says.
“Last night, more than 500 people were martyred in Gaza, from north to south, most of them children and women, and at the time I am writing these lines, the bombing and artillery fire around me has not stopped, and hundreds of people are being killed, and perhaps I and my family will be part of them.” “Who knows? All those who were killed, more than 22 thousand people, during the past days of the war, did not know that they would be killed in this brutal way.”
December 9.. Shelter or market?
The definition of shelter in the Oxford English Dictionary is “the shelter of a structure that provides protection against rain, wind, or sun, and in the broadest sense, anything that serves as a screen or shelter from bad weather.”
But the definition of a shelter in Gaza is different. A shelter in Gaza is a school, which is a two-story building, with 3 rows of classrooms and a front yard for students to play.
Due to the numerous military attacks on Gaza, UNRWA designated several schools as wartime shelters. They installed solar panels, a water well, and 14 latrines in each school, and prepared each school to house between 900 and 1,000 displaced people.
Of the 400 schools in Gaza, there are about 65 schools ready to serve as shelters, but today, the 400 schools have become shelters, each housing more than 5,000 people, including men, women, children, people with disabilities, pregnant women, the elderly, the bedridden, the wounded, and nursing mothers. They were built inside the courtyards. Tents made from pieces of cloth, plastic sheeting, blankets, or mixed materials.
In the midst of these crowds, people light fires to cook their food, creating a cloud of smoke. Hundreds of people line up outside the toilets for a chance to rest, and their children urinate between the tents or next to the school wall. Bathing is a dream that may not come true for weeks. Waterborne diseases and skin diseases are widespread among people, especially children, the sick and the elderly.
At night, the classrooms are reserved for women and children, and the men must spend the night outside. There is dirt, garbage, mud and silt everywhere. The smells remind me of the novel Perfume by Patrick Susskind, which describes the dirt and bad smells of Paris for centuries. In front of the shelter, the donkey drivers have allocated a place that resembles… The transportation station, after donkeys became the only means of transportation in light of the lack of fuel for vehicles?
Two months ago, this market was very clean and modern, but today the Nuseirat schools and market look very similar to the Parisian market 200 years ago, Paris as Susskind described it in his perfume, like life in Paris before the revolution. This is what Israel did, and this is what it wants.
December 10: Famine
There is no longer a market as the shops have been destroyed, closed or sold out, and only a few food products have entered thanks to UNRWA, to be distributed to the displaced in some schools, where people fill all UNRWA schools, all government schools, and all sports clubs, And all the colleges and universities that have not yet been destroyed, and all the streets, while UNRWA distributes its aid to its schools designated as shelters.
But what about biscuits, ice cream, chocolate, candy, dairy products, pastries, cakes, chewing gum, fruit of all kinds, coffee, cooking gas, car fuel, electricity generators or machines, winter clothes, mattresses, blankets, carpets, plastic sheets, eggs and fruit juices?
December 12, 2023: Bad Son
The blogger describes how his mother (83 years old), who was bedridden, was angry with him because he did not bring her home, without accepting that this had become impossible since we left our home in Gaza on October 12 and came to the Nuseirat camp.
I told her several times that the Israeli army isolated Gaza and the north by cutting the road at the Netzarim junction between northern Gaza and the center of the Strip.
The mother does not believe him, and everything he says increases her anger, because she does not know – as he says – that reaching the moon may be easier today than reaching Gaza without being hit by a sniper’s bullet or killed by a shell or bombing.
The mother says, “You are no longer the same as you were before. Since we arrived here, you have prevented me from seeing my daughters, sons, and grandchildren. In my house, they came every day, and I used to see them every day, and now I do not see anyone, and I do not contact anyone. You have deprived me of all Something, and she did not bring me coffee, sweets, or even any fruit. You claim that the Israelis are the ones preventing things from reaching Gaza. How do you want me to believe you?”
An 83-year-old mother addresses her son: You are no longer what you were before. Since we arrived here, she has prevented me from seeing my daughters, sons, and grandchildren, in my house. They came every day, and I used to see them every day, and now I don’t see any of them, and I don’t contact anyone. She deprived me of everything, and did not bring me coffee, sweets, or even any fruit. You claim that the Israelis are the ones preventing things from reaching Gaza. How do you want me to believe you?
For the son to say, “I do not blame my mother, but rather I blame myself because I was not able to fly and cross all borders to reach a place where I can find fruits, chocolate, candy, coffee, and everything my mother desires. I blame myself because I was not able to reach Khan Yunis, Deir al-Balah, or Rafah.” And bring my brothers and sisters there so my mother can see them. I blame myself because I don’t have a magic wand to fix the communications network with the wave of a magic wand. Sorry, mother, forgive me, I am a bad son.”
Also December 12: The child, the donkey driver, and the military expert
My wife Abeer does an amazing job managing, facilitating and supporting a large team of counsellors, social workers, nurses, physical therapists, facilitators, occupational therapists and rehabilitation staff in the area shelters in central Gaza, thanks to her work within a humanitarian organisation, and I also provide oversight and support to a team of counselors and social workers in the area. Central and South through my work at the “Ma’an” Development Center.
We were received by Dr. Raafat Al-Aidi, Director of Al-Wafa Hospital in Nuseirat Camp, who manages a huge team of doctors, nurses, and employees and ensures, as much as possible, everything the hospital needs. He is in daily contact with non-governmental organizations and donors to ensure access to food and basic needs for his employees. Since my wife and I do not have branches of our organizations in Nuseirat, he did not hesitate to provide us with a headquarters equipped with electricity and the Internet to facilitate our work.
After work, the blogger and his wife go to the market to buy what they need, then they walk home if they do not find a donkey cart. On this day, they found a donkey heading to the Al-Sawarha area where they live.
The donkey was being driven by two children, one of whom was about 13 years old and the other was about 9 years old. They determined the amount of the fare, and after a few minutes they heard a huge explosion that frightened them. Abeer said involuntarily, “I am close.” The donkey driver, who was very relaxed, replied, “No.” “It’s at least a kilometer south, it’s far.”
Abeer asked him how did you know? The boy said, “I know.” You must also be able to know, is this the first time you have witnessed a war in Gaza, aren’t you from here?” “This is strange. You must be able to recognize the sound of explosions and measure their location, and you must be able to distinguish between the sound of rockets and shells.” “.
Abeer asks him, “What is your name?” Laird Ahmed, how old are you? 9 years old. do you go to school? “Not now because they have all become shelters, but of course I am in the fourth year of primary school.” ” What are you doing now?” “You see, I help my family get income after my father died.”
Abeer asks the boy, “What do you think will happen, Ahmed?” He responded, “Well, the Israelis’ dream is to see Gaza empty by any means, and they will continue to strike, bomb, destroy, and kill until they expel us or kill us all.” Abeer also asked, “What do you think we should do?” He responded, “Do what we do now, stay and live.”