Adala and Omar
Qarara, Khan Younis
Before the war they were living 300 m from the border. Their house was demolished during Cast lead and since then they cannot access their land. They know it will be impossible to return.
While they tell their story, an F16 fighter jet breaks through the sky, we hear the rumble in our heads.
They are ten in the family and their shelter now is the size of one room, made half of bricks and half of asbestos. It serves as kitchen, toilet and bedroom for their six children. They built it with their own hands. In the backyard, a tent pitched on sandy land has become a bedroom. The most difficult thing is not having a vision for a future. In Gaza there is no work and the humanitarian aid is not sufficient to restore dignity to the people.
Interview:
“We had eight dunum of land, olive trees, sheep, birds, fresh air. Our land was so beautiful. We earned money with chickens, selling birds eggs. My father and brother’s families lived around. We worked together as a family. We were happy. We were living!
"Our house was destroyed during the war. We ended up here directly after the war. We are now living 1,3 km from the border, close to the main road. Behind it the whole area is destroyed”.
"We are used to a life with fear, because we were living so close to the border. They’ve arrested me seven times during their incursions. Once they kicked me so bad with their heavy combat boots, they broke my foot. Arrests during incursions were normal. It took several hours. Regularly they would take men and keep them detained in the military base on the border. Every time they took us, they ordered us to leave our houses, but we kept on refusing".
“We left our house on the 4th day of the war. The first three days of war the air strikes targeted the cities, the police stations and the ministries. Then tanks started the land invasion in the countryside. We saw some neighbours leaving their houses as they saw military activity by the border. We started feeling afraid. We left with the neighbors and went straight to the UNRWA school. All telecommunication was off, so we couldn’t call anyone. We didn’t have time to pick up anything from the house”.
"In total six people of our family were killed. Some people were killed by the air strikes. One of our neighbors, a man of 65 years old was holding a bag with official papers, ID and land documents. He was hit by a drone bomb. The biggest piece of his body retrieved, was the size of a hand. So when we left, we didn’t take anything out of fear the same thing could happen to us."
"Three sisters were running on their way to the UNRWA school. A drone bomb hit them. Two were immediately killed. The third one died later. Their father lived about 500 meters from were we are now. When he went to his house to pick up something, he was killed by a drone attack too”.
“We went back after the war, of course, to see how things were. They shot at us. We recognized our house from the foundations. Nothing was left. It was completely flattened. All had vanished. They used bulldozers and tanks. Animals were mixed with rubble and the remains of the water tanks. Not one of our animals survived. They were all dead: three goats and four sheep, 30 chickens and doves too. We lost everything. I had hoped to see at least one animal alive”.
“Before, we could live from the land, we had everything we needed, now we depend on humanitarian aid. The Palestinian people are used to waiting for humanitarian aid. But this is not the solution. We can’t find work to buy everything we need. We cannot even afford notebooks, shoes, pencils. I feel sad because I can’t bring what our children ask for, what they need. It’s necessary things”.
“In the end we will have our own house, in five or ten years or later, UNRWA says. The Israeli army informed the Red Cross that no one can rebuild within an area of 500 meters from the border. So it cannot be on our land. If we would go to that area, we would be shot at. We went after the war to see how things were. They shot at us”.
“I feel sad because the past is gone. I feel sad for the future. I don’t know what will happen, there’s no certainty. I can live in this tent, but my children? I don’t know how to ensure a good life and a good future for them. They don’t live their childhood, they are full of fear. Now the situation is very bad: no cooking gas, no fuel, no future. People die because of sadness, because of the psychological suffering. The psychological condition of people is zero”.