The UN warns of a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ as the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip enters a second week. Residents of the enclave tell Fidelity about their daily experiences. This time: entrepreneur Salah Skaik, who is in Gaza City with his family.
“It is now the eleventh day since the Israeli army started bombing, and it is still going on, it is constant. Every day there is another building that is hit, collapses, and buries its residents. There are now so many martyrs – entire families – who have been killed by the bombings.
“A few days ago, the Israeli army spread the word that everyone in the north should evacuate south. I now live with my family in the north, in my sister’s house – our own house was bombed – but we decided to stay, for different reasons.
“First of all, there is no fuel at all, so there are no taxis and hardly any cars to move with. I also take care of my parents, who are elderly. They can no longer walk; just getting them from one room to another is difficult, let alone moving them to a whole new city that we’re not even sure is livable.
‘People are now sleeping on the streets in the south’
“Because the situation in the south is really terrible. There is not enough shelter, even the schools run by the United Nations are full of people and no one can reach them anymore. There is no longer a house or apartment where you can rent anything, everything is full. People now sleep on the streets.
“Israeli attacks there have also increased, bombing is now going on in a terrible way. There are many people in the south who are thinking about returning to the north.
“So we decided to await our fate in the north. It’s tough here too, there’s a shortage of everything. This is the fifth or sixth day we have had no electricity, after the power plant had to close due to a lack of fuel.
Waiting in line for hours for a bit of water
“We have neighbors here with a generator, where we can charge our phones. That is the most important thing for us, so we can stay in touch with the outside world and check whether our family members are still safe.
“The water is limited. Cleaning, washing, that’s not enough. The priority is drinking. In every neighborhood there are wells from which you can get a little water, but there are huge queues of hundreds of people. Same with bread, you have to wait hours before it’s your turn. In the supermarkets, almost all the shelves are empty, there are only a few products left, such as jars of peas.
“Then there is the lack of fuel, which is a priority especially for hospitals. Because no electricity is supplied, they are completely dependent on emergency generators, which require fuel. They say they have one or two days’ supply left.
‘It’s not a war, it’s a massacre’
“No one is sure whether Israel will launch a ground invasion or not. We hope not, the situation would only worsen. We hope for a ceasefire. I think the demonstrations around the world in support of Gaza are important, but that is not the only solution. It is also important that countries such as the Netherlands put pressure on the Israeli government to agree to a ceasefire.
“Most Israeli attacks on Gaza hit civilians. And that’s terrible: why are we being hit? An average of three to four hundred people are killed every day. People are no longer buried separately, but placed in mass graves.
“Suppose Israel were only to attack armed resistance, then you could still speak of something of an equal fight. But they make no distinction between civilians and armed resistance groups. It’s not a war, it’s a massacre.”
Due to the poor coverage in Gaza, a telephone conversation with Salah Skaik was not possible. Skaik left the above experiences as an audio message.
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