View from Gaza
‘Bombing’s everywhere with no safe place to hide’
I am only 33 years old, yet I have lived in Gaza through three wars and watched the deadly border protests known as the Great March of Return.
Now, a fourth war is going on all around me.
This week feels like the worst so far. I cannot sleep for more than an hour continuously because of the air strikes.
On the Gaza Strip the bombing is everywhere, and in Gaza there is no safe place to hide. Missiles fall on buildings, attic towers and homes, and in Gaza there are no shelters.
When the bombing begins, we all run to a small corridor in my house and sit in it until it ends. It’s the best we have.
Sometimes we spend 30 minutes and sometimes we spend an hour there because – I say it again – there are no shelters in Gaza.
This is not to mention the power outages and the loss of the internet.
Sometimes we do not know what is happening outside. There are no apps or warning texts, let alone connectivity. We can’t charge our phones in any case, and have little access to running water due to the falling bombs.
I feel confused now. I think a lot about my children and my family and always ask my mind a question: how long will this last? What will happen in the future? Will there be a future for my children? At 33, I have never seen a plane or even a train in my life, and I can hardly find work.
I have only been able to take a shower intermittently, because of the electricity schedule, for 12 years.
How long will this continue? When will we gain the freedom to live with dignity, to travel, to learn and to work?
At this time, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has announced that the Israeli raids have killed 120 people, more than 30 of them children, and there were 540 injuries.
I don’t know how our health system will handle all this as we go through the second wave of coronavirus.
We love life, we love work, we want to launch rockets into space, invent new medicines, contribute to scientific research.
All most ordinary Gazans seek is an opportunity.