“Gaza is still under intense attack. We are causing more and more wounded and dead. Most of the wounded and dead are women and children. Our health system is kneeling.”
This was the brief but brutal summary of Muhammad Abd Salmiya, head of Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa Hospital, earlier this week.
At exactly 1:00 p.m. Friday, Norwegian time, the ceasefire finally came into effect between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement after 11 days of violent attacks. At the same moment, people in the Gaza Strip poured into their homes to celebrate, according to the AP news agency.
– He can’t save you
Seven-year-old Suzy Eshkontana is one of the injured children at Al-Shifa Hospital. On Sunday morning, it was pulled from the rubble, several hours after it was bombed by an Israeli air strike. Initially in the hospital, she was reunited with her father:
– Forgive me, daughter. You called me to save you, but I couldn’t move or find you, the first words that her father, Riad Eshkontana, met were, according to the medical staff who recovered the two together, in every hospital bed.
Their house is in ruins. A mother and four siblings were killed. Until now, their lives are in a hospital room in Shifa. But the hospital is very full and lacks most things.
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Muhammad Abed Salmiya is the director of Al-Shifa Hospital. He believes that Israeli military forces “are clearly and systematically hitting civilians in Gaza.”
Most women and children are injured and killed. The hospital director repeats and continues:
When Israel systematically strikes residential areas in densely populated areas, they aim to kill children and women and force families to flee. He says this is very difficult.
returning home
In the Gaza Strip, people began returning home on Friday. While many Palestinians will have to live with the consequences of the war for a long time to come, the vast majority of Israelis can return to their normal lives on Friday, NTB writes.
The air defense sirens announcing the rocket attacks stopped howling, and in Tel Aviv they were once again busy in outdoor cafes.
In Gaza City, people’s lives are still marked by eleven days of violent Israeli attacks. Rescue teams worked on Friday to search the rubble for collapsed buildings, while families left the UN schools where they had lived in recent days.
Dim numbers
The following statistics in Gaza showed, on Wednesday, according to the hospital director: 213 Palestinian civilians, including 61 children, were killed. 36 women were killed – and 16 elderly. In addition, 1,442 Palestinians were injured and nearly 100,000 people were forced to flee. Just over 40,000 of these now live near United Nations schools, while around 60,000 live with friends or family.
– Israel attacked the roads leading to our hospital, which means that not all patients can come here. In addition, three medical centers were completely destroyed, two hospitals were partially destroyed, and three ambulances were destroyed, according to Salmiya, before she continued:
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Two of our doctors were killed and another was injured. As you know, Gaza has been under siege for over 15 years, which means that even before this massive bombardment, we were lacking most of it. Then, you can put in more than nine days of massive bombardment – and the Coronavirus pandemic on its way to the top …
A recipe for a terrible disaster, he says.
Without electricity and oxygen
According to data from Salamiyah, “more than 1,000 houses and apartments now live in Palestinian civilians have been bombed to pieces.”
In addition, 33 media headquarters and offices were destroyed, 68 government offices, eight mosques, 36 schools, and five residential complexes were leveled. And do not forget the bombing of infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water pipes and main streets in Gaza, he said.
Moreover, 300 shops, 40 factories, banks, cultivated lands and animal farms must be totally or partially destroyed.
The International Commission for Palestinian Rights is now calling on “the international community to act to stop war crimes, illegal settlements, occupation and attacks on civilians.”
We are getting more injuries, but I am afraid that everything is kneeling. The hospital relies entirely on large generators to operate, but is afraid they will run out. We also struggle to get enough oxygen, and we lack medicine and equipment. He says this must stop.
Pandemic fear of corona
And bring what the rest of the world cares about, but doesn’t have time to think about right now: the Corona pandemic.
The epidemic was on the rise before the outbreak of the war. When more than 100,000 people are on the run, and must live near you, you know what’s coming. Silmia says it’s a worse aura wave and adds:
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Now we have absolutely no opportunity to talk about maintaining distance or other restrictions. He says now it’s a war.
Several sources in Gaza indicated that Dagbladet was speaking to say that the people of Gaza feel that the world has abandoned them.
More than half of the people here are children. Then comes one of the most powerful military powers in the world and bombed it. again and again. day after day. And we have nowhere to go. Someone says that this cannot continue.
Murder intentionally
Israeli journalist and Gaza expert, Amira Has, made a very outrageous comment on the current situation on Wednesday.
He added, “Israel intends to wipe out entire Palestinian families. Fathers, mothers and children. Children, grandparents, twins. This indicates that what is happening is not a mistake. The bombings come after a higher decision in the regime, and with the support of military lawyers.” Hasse writes.
There is no safe place in Gaza
She points out that at least fifteen Palestinian families lost at least three, but often more, of their members in the Israeli bombardment of populated areas.
“From what we heard,” Haas writes, “they were given no prior warnings so that they could evacuate the homes they were in.”
She points out that Israel also killed a number of families in 2014, and points to UN figures saying that 142 Palestinian families (742 family members) lost their lives in the previous Gaza war in 2014.
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More bombing
Fighting between Israel and Palestinian armed groups lasted nine days on Wednesday, compared to the 2014 conflict. In addition to at least 219 Palestinians, 12 people were killed in Israel in the conflict.
According to Haaretz, Israel has carried out several hundred air and ground attacks, while armed groups in Gaza fired more than 3,000 rockets from the surrounding area towards and towards Israel.
– Thugs rule both sides
Hamas is said to have been prepared several times for the ceasefire, while Israel has so far refused. Both DPA and Haaretz reported on Wednesday afternoon that the Israeli spokesmen denied the possibility of a ceasefire as of Thursday morning.
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On Wednesday, four rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. This, along with the internal conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians in Israel, is what Israeli leaders fear most now.
Last: Wednesday afternoon, Suzy and her father were discharged from Al-Shifa Hospital. Now they have to start over. All on barren land, without a mother and four siblings.
Facts about the Gaza Strip:
- One of the most densely populated areas of the world.
- The population is imprisoned, which is why Gaza is often called the “largest external prison in the world.”
- More than two million people, half of them are children.
- 70% of the population are Palestinian refugees.
- Unemployment is one of the highest in the world.
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