NOVANEWS
Maha Mehanna writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine,
13 January 2009
As the war in Gaza, where I live, enters its third week, the death toll of
civilians continues to rise. There is nowhere safe in Gaza. The Israeli
warplanes have bombed — and continue to do so — homes, ministerial
buildings, municipal buildings, mosques, schools, universities and charities
throughout the densely-populated Gaza Strip. Every day in Gaza is more
painful and heartbreaking than the past. Everyone here is terrorized and
traumatized from the never-ending bombardments. What is happening in
Gaza is catastrophic beyond words and it is very hard to make sense of the
current situation or make future predictions. The Israeli attacks on Gaza are
escalating, and the Israeli military navy is shelling from the sea, the F-16
warplanes and Apache helicopters from the sky, and the tanks from the
ground … where to hide?!
Since the start of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, Israeli warplanes have been
Destruction wrought by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, 13 January 2009.
(Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)
ShareThis
Your support helps us
tell Palestine’s stories
every day.
Donate Now
Thank you!
Latest posts from
Ali Abunimah’s
blog:
LA Times oped:
“Israel leaves us
no choice but to
boycott” ~ Ali
Abunimah
Video: Ali
Abunimah,
Congressman
Brian Baird,
Jonathan
Sacerdoti debate
peace process on
Riz Khan show
Defending
Palestinian
solidarity –
Opinion – Al
Jazeera English
Waarom NGOMonitor
de
Electronic
ei: How does one prepare for a war crime? Page 1 of 4
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10178.shtml 1/2/2011
bombing and shelling several locations in the area near our house, very near
our house. With each bombardment, we feel our house shake like an
earthquake and windows break, not to mention our utter fear and horror. We
have not had any electricity for 17 days now, but this was something we got
used to, since, before the Israeli aggression, for nearly 18 months, we lived
with only four to six hours of electricity a day, many times only having it
after 3:00am.
Our house comprises of three stories. I live with my parents and aunt
downstairs, and my two married brothers live with their families in
apartments upstairs. We have to leave windows open all day and night to
prevent them from shattering from the bombardments, even though we are
in our winter season and this year is extremely cold. We have 13 young
children at home, and all of my family, including my brothers and their
families, are staying with us in one crowded room at our home downstairs,
in the dark and the cold, to seek shelter. We prefer to die all together if a
missile would strike. My younger nephews and nieces are very scared all of
the time and don’t sleep well. They refuse to go to the toilet on their own,
we take turns accompanying them. The bombings continue, day and night,
and we don’t stop feeling scared. We hardly get any sleep.
We are also subject to psychological pressures as we keep hearing that a
friend, a relative or a neighbor has been killed or injured. There is nowhere
to hide from the bombings in the whole of Gaza because the Israeli
warplanes are targeting all areas.
As if the bombings were not enough, we also receive daily recorded phone
calls from the Israeli army to intimidate and terrorize us. In these recorded
calls, the army asks us to follow their instructions and obey their orders for
our own safety. They also say that they don’t target us, but that they target
Hamas militants only. The army also asks us to stay away from Hamas
elements and to avoid dealing with them or helping them and the caller
warns us not to allow them use our homes or residential areas. The army
also said in one of the recorded calls that “this is not a nightmare, this is the
hell the Hamas leadership brought to you,” which made us not know if we
are being targeted or not. In their latest recorded call this evening, the caller
said that they will escalate their military operations in Gaza and that we
should prepare ourselves and keep following their instructions and obeying
their orders. How does one prepare to be a victim of a war crime?
We also receive calls from the Israeli intelligence, in good Arabic,
pretending to be sympathetic Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians, Algerians,
Sudanese or Libyans. After expressing horror at the Israeli war and asking
about the safety of our family, the callers ask us about local conditions,
whether the family supports Hamas and if there are fighters in the building
or the neighborhood.
To add insult to injury, the warplanes also drop leaflets in Arabic all over
the Gaza Strip to intimidate and terrorize Gazans even more. In one of the
leaflets, the army orders people to leave their areas immediately because
they claim they have been forced to respond immediately and operate in
their residential area due to the terrorist activity that terrorist elements are
carrying out from those areas. The irony is that the warplanes are dropping
such leaflets everywhere in Gaza, and anyone who reads them thinks that
their areas are targeted. This has created mass hysteria. And even if they felt
terrorized and intimidated and decided to follow the Israeli army orders and
evacuate their areas, where can they go? NOWHERE IS SAFE IN GAZA!
We are very concerned and afraid. No one has any idea what is going to
happen in the coming days. We live on the southwest side of the Jabaliya
refugee camp which makes us next in line if the Israeli ground forces decide
Intifada aanvalt,
ofwel een aanval
van extreem
rechts op de
vrijheid van
meningsuiting
NEWS & ANALYSIS
Opinion/Editorial
Diaries
Human Rights
Development
Israel Lobby
Watch
Internet & Tech
Business &
Economy
THE MEDIA
Role of the
Media
Coverage Trends
Journalists in
Danger
EI in the Press
ACTION &
ACTIVISM
Activism News
Action Items
Letters to the
Media
EI EXTRA
BY TOPIC
directory
Arts, Music &
Culture
Satire from BNN
Multimedia
Letters to EI
EI Shop
EI Bookstore
RSS Help | EI RSS Feeds
ei: How does one prepare for a war crime? Page 2 of 4
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10178.shtml 1/2/2011
to advance, as they said they would yesterday. My sisters live in the refugee
camps around Gaza City and I’m sick worrying about them too. Like all
families in Gaza, we also lack many basic necessities, such as food, running
water, electricity, warmth and cooking gas. These basic necessities have
become a luxury for us, if available, not to mention the prices of
commodities are rapidly inflating. When grocery shops can open, some
insignificant items are available, but many necessary items are not. Much of
what was available most likely has spoiled by now, given the total
electricity cuts in our area since the start of the bombardment 17 days ago.
No one here leaves home unless there is something extremely urgent. The
only time I left home since this all started was yesterday to take my nephew
Mohammed to al-Shifa Hospital, which is a 15-minute walk from our home.
We left hoping to find out if some of his recently prescribed post-bone
marrow transplantation medicine was available. We only found three of the
needed nine medicines and only enough for one week. On our way to the
hospital, we witnessed scenes of destruction and many damaged buildings
everywhere. Some buildings are totally damaged and cannot be repaired.
When we got to the hospital, we saw a lot of women and children being
carried and wheeled into the emergency room, if that’s what it can be called
anymore. Many of the wounded were missing limbs and a lot of the dead
were in pieces, body parts literally in boxes. I became sicker than I already
was. We also saw women and men, parents, slapping their faces in grief,
screaming and wailing. Some of them collapsed to the floor because they
learned their children were dead. What I heard is that most of the killed are
children and there wasn’t enough space for the wounded. Terrifying scenes!
My life stopped at this point.
What’s happening in Gaza is a real crime against humanity. If any Israeli
spokesperson does not believe it, I ask them to visit for him or herself.
Despite this extremely difficult situation, we are still holding on, waiting for
the siege to end and hoping with it the 41 years of occupation will also
leave our lives once and for all.
Maha Mehanna is based in al-Rimal, Gaza, and is a freelance Arabic-
English translator. She can be reached at maha_2711 A T yahoo D O T
com.
Related Links
Gaza massacres
Latest articles