Hatem Al-Attar.. The story of the steadfastness of the civil defense men in Gaza after a year of war | policy

Despite the harsh conditions, lack of equipment, and direct targeting by the Israeli occupation forces, Hatem Al-Attar and the Civil Defense team in the Gaza Strip have been struggling to save the lives of citizens since the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, in a mission that has gone beyond being just a job to a humanitarian goal and a life full of dangers amid difficult circumstances.

Al-Attar – who works as a cadre of rescuers, firefighters and first-aid providers – says that his work is still continuing despite the direct injuries he sustained and the challenges that civil defense teams have faced since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip.

One of the most prominent challenges facing civil defense personnel during the war – according to Al-Attar – was the lack of equipment necessary for work that would enable them to save time rescuing citizens from under the rubble, instead of using their hands to extract those trapped from under the rubble.

Difficult circumstances

Al-Attar described the suffering of the lack of equipment by saying that the civil defense vehicles are almost dilapidated, and if they were located in another country, they would be considered out of service in general, and yet we are still continuing to perform our humanitarian duty.

Regarding his work during the war under bombing, Al-Attar says: The feeling of anxiety and fear remains present for you and for everyone present at the event, as you struggle for time to save lives, and each event has its own circumstances and the psychological pressure that you go through.

Al-Attar adds that citizens are going through a state of panic and fear, and you are comforting one person and saving another, and everyone is asking you to provide service, whether he is an injured person demanding first aid, or someone demanding that his family be removed from under the rubble. This puts pressure on us in light of the lack of equipment necessary to complete the task.

Al-Attar points out that during the current war, he suffered several accidental injuries while working, including two severe injuries, as a result of which he stopped working for a period.

Several injuries

The first injury, as Hatem narrates it, was “after I entered a house west of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis after it had been targeted by the Israeli occupation. I went with my colleagues in the Civil Defense to the place, and when I entered the house, a reconnaissance plane targeted the house while I was inside.”

Al-Attar went on to say: Those who witnessed the event and the bombing at the time said that Hatem had been martyred, but I miraculously survived and left without serious injury, but there were some bruises and I stopped working for 3 days, after which I returned to work.”

The second incident occurred in the Al-Mawasi massacre, west of the city of Khan Yunis, on July 13, 2024. Al-Attar described the place as very terrifying, “where the fires were intense and burning, and injuries and martyrs were in large numbers, in addition to body parts scattered everywhere.”

He added that his injury was moderate in the right foot after arriving at the site, and he continued: While we were asking the citizens to evacuate the area in order to be evacuated, the occupation army fired a heavy belt of fire for 3 continuous minutes to block the road and prevent everyone from reaching the target site, and I was hit by shrapnel, which caused me to stay for a month. For treatment.

He says in his painful story with astonishment: “After I was transported by ambulance from the place, the bombing was violent and continuous around us. My colleagues and I in the ambulance witnessed the severity of the explosions around us.”

After arriving at the hospital, he received the sad news that a number of his colleagues in the Civil Defense were martyred and others were injured.

It is noteworthy that the number of martyrs of the massacre in the Al-Mawasi area committed by the occupation reached 90 martyrs and 300 wounded, half of whom were children and women.

The most difficult situations

Regarding the difficult situations he went through while working in the field, Hatem Al-Attar narrates that on the night of October 7, 2023, a house for the Abu Daqqa family in Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, was targeted, and it consists of 4 floors.

Under the rubble there was a woman, “on top of which she was alive.” The operation to rescue her continued for more than 5 continuous hours. “During this operation, we had brought out her seven children as martyrs, and she did not know it.”

“During the rescue, she was constantly asking about the fate of her children, so I had to lie to her so that her psychological state would remain stable and not collapse. This was one of the most difficult situations I experienced throughout the war.”

Since the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, civil defense teams have carried out 45,000 missions, which is equivalent to 30 years of work under normal conditions. This great achievement was achieved despite the destruction of 60% of their equipment and the loss of 80 of their colleagues, in addition to the injury of 260 others and the capture of 12 of them.