At the foot of his house flattened last week by an Israeli strike, Najah Nabhane wonders about his future and that of his family who now sleeps in the rubble of his house, in the north of the Gaza Strip.
After five days of deadly hostilities between Palestinian armed movements and Israel, Najah Nabhane, 56, struggles to care for her children and grandchildren, many of whom have physical disabilities.
“I borrow clothes from the neighbors for them. I didn’t take anything with me, I barely had time to go down the street and the house was bombed,” she told AFP. Beit Lahia.
Citing local officials, the UN said more than 100 homes had been completely destroyed and 140 severely damaged in five days of clashes.
These began on May 9 when the Israeli army launched deadly strikes against commanders of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian movement described as “terrorist” by both the United States and the European Union and by Israel.
Armed groups in Gaza then fired nearly 1,470 rockets into Israel, more than 430 of which were intercepted by the air defense system, until a ceasefire came into effect on Saturday evening.
The clashes claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians, including one killed by a Palestinian rocket on Israeli territory. On the Israeli side, one person died, according to the Israeli emergency services.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not explain why the Nabhanes’ home had been targeted.
The family says they were notified by telephone by the Israeli authorities of an impending strike.
“People were screaming and we ran away,” Bilal Nabhane, 35, told AFP.
“Now 45 people are here (on the streets), where will they go? They need shelter,” says the man who earns about 10 shekels ($2.50) a day selling parsley in the market .
Across the Gaza Strip, a thin strip of land where 2.3 million Palestinians live, under Israeli blockade since Hamas took power there in 2007, the various wars with Israel have left their traces.
In Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, a neighborhood was again defaced last week.
Today, children climb on heaps of concrete, from which emerge metal rods, remains of dwellings.
That of Mohammed Zidane, 29, escaped a raid, but the explosion of another building was so powerful that it tore through the walls. Since then, he has been sleeping with his family on the street.
“To target a single person, you don’t need to destroy an entire apartment complex,” he says indignantly. “I live at home with my children. I’m busy with my job. What did I do to deserve this?”
Asked by AFP, the Israeli army did not explain why it had targeted this neighborhood.
During her operation, she accused members of Islamic Jihad of deliberately hiding in residential areas and ensured that she was doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties.
The last deadly escalation between Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Israel was in August 2022, and an 11-day war in May 2021 pitted Palestinian movements in Gaza against Israel.
In the Gaza Strip, where the unemployment rate is as high as 53% according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, rebuilding their homes is a challenge for many residents.
“I hope to be able to realize my dream: that of offering a house to my children … I have to take them now to the neighbors to wash and borrow clothes”, laments Najah Nabhane.
One of her daughters, disabled, stands near her.
“I am sitting in a wheelchair given to me, mine is broken, under the rubble,” Hanine Nabhane told AFP.
In the rubble were also his dreams, says the young woman. “And my dreams are gone.”
05/16/2023 17:29:12 – Beit Lahia (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
