In light of the humanitarian catastrophe that the Palestinians are experiencing in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli war and the absence of the necessities of life, including cooking gas, dozens of citizens were forced to burn school and cultural books, and even master’s and doctoral theses, to light fires amid an almost complete depletion of firewood in some areas.
Since the outbreak of the devastating war on the Strip on October 7, Israel has cut off supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel to the residents of Gaza, who are about 2.3 million Palestinians who already suffer from extremely deteriorating living conditions.
Master’s and doctoral theses
Palestinian media personality Israa Al-Mudalalal said that her mother and two brothers had to burn their doctoral theses in order to prepare a loaf of bread.
Al-Mudallal added, in her posts a few days ago on social media, “The doctoral dissertation of my mother, Mrs. Naima, and of two of my brothers, Dr. Abdullah and Muhammad, collected it this morning to burn it instead of the firewood and wood that ran out, for a loaf of bread and a cup of hot tea.”
She continued, “After my mother served her whole life with the United Nations as the first woman director of the educational district in Rafah for UNRWA, and after she opened houses of learning and raised generations, and established an educational approach that was the first in the Middle East, she burned all of her master’s and doctoral dissertations, and so did my brothers after “The starvation policy that the world is applying to us, everyone is responsible, negligent, and complicit in the crime.”
And so did the Palestinian Ruba Aslim, who had to burn her master’s thesis to light the fire needed to cook a little pasta for her children, which she received as aid.
As the fire burning under the pot of food fades, Aslim tears more of her letter papers to ensure the flames burn until the food is cooked.
She says as she adds more papers to the burning fire, “We no longer have options. The human being was burned by the Israeli fire. Will we be sad because of these letters?”
She added to Anadolu, looking with regret at her effort that took her more than a year, “This message always made me proud, but today we are fighting starvation by lighting fires by any means after we have run out of firewood, and the price of firewood in the markets has risen to large numbers.”
Books make the “loaf”
In the city of Rafah – the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip – a group of citizens resorted to cultural books in the “Bahrain” library, affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), to use them to start fires.
This library, which has always been a destination for intellectuals, readers, and cultural and intellectual activities, has turned into a source of “paper” fuel that contributes to lighting fires to cook food.
Eyewitnesses living near this library told Anadolu that a group of citizens entered this library weeks ago and took out groups of its books to burn them.
In turn, Palestinian blogger Hamza Abu Toha said in a post on Facebook on November 25, “The Bahrain Library is full of delicious books and encyclopedias, and I grew up in it since its founding 13 years ago. I passed by it today and found that people had opened it and taken everything.” It contains books, shelves, and wood so that they can light a fire to make bread after the lack of gas and fuel.”
Abu Toha added, “I sat on my knees crying at the sight of the books and encyclopedias that people were carrying to burn, after many of them had burned their clothes for that purpose.”
UNRWA’s Bahrain Library, which has two branches, the first in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, and the second in Rafah, contains thousands of books. It also includes a computer laboratory and a 3D cinema hall.
Without food
The international organization Human Rights Watch said on Monday that the Israeli government’s use of “starvation” of civilians as a weapon in Gaza is considered a “war crime.”
The organization added in its report, “The Israeli army deliberately prevents the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid, bulldozing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of materials that are indispensable for their survival.”
For his part, Omar Shaker, the organization’s director of Israel and Palestine affairs, said, “For more than two months, Israel has been depriving the residents of Gaza of food and water, a policy that was urged or supported by senior Israeli officials, and reflects the intention to starve civilians as a method of war.”
Shaker added, “The Israeli government is doubling down on its collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and the denial of humanitarian aid with its cruel use of starvation as a weapon of war.”
On December 6, the United Nations World Food Program reported that 9 out of 10 families in northern Gaza, and two out of three families in southern Gaza, spent “at least a full day and a full night without food,” according to the report.
Health complications
The loss of books that are burned is not only a cognitive loss, but the smoke emanating from them causes health complications, especially in the respiratory system, for people who sit in front of it, or are directly exposed to it.
The displaced Umm Raed Abu Ghali, who lives in one of the displacement tents near the Egyptian-Palestinian border, said that she starts fires on a daily basis using paper taken from school books.
She added, “My daughter brought some school books with her during her exodus from the Beach Camp for Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, so she used them to light fires to make hot cups of tea, and some food according to what she had available from the humanitarian aid that was distributed.”
She explained that before the displacement trip, she used wood to light fires, noting that her repeated inhalation of the smoke of these burning materials made her difficult to breathe.
Abu Ghali is unable to go to health centers or hospitals that operate according to the emergency system in order to receive treatment, expressing her fear that her health condition will worsen.
Last November, the World Health Organization warned of the spread of diseases due to overcrowding of displaced people in shelters, and the disruption of the health system in some areas.
