RAFEEF ISLEEM

Gaza- Israel has waged a war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, killing and injuring tens and thousands of people, displacing more than 1.9 Palestinians throughout Gaza, damaging and destroying about 92 per cent of all residential buildings. Displaced Palestinians take shelter in tents built by themselves while Israel’s attacks target women and children. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians struggle to survive amid food and water shortage.

Gaza has become a city of death

Amidst the war, tens of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip mourn their loved ones killed in Israel’s attacks. Gaza has become a city of death since October 2023. In an Israeli airstrike targeting a restaurant in al-Wahda Street in Gaza City, two girls, who wanted to eat a single slice of pizza, were killed. In Al-Jalaa Street, Israeli forces burned two women alive while they were sheltering in their homes. Two elderly women were shot and killed by Israeli forces in Al-Sinaa Street. In the neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, five-year-old Hind Rajab was killed along with six of her family members and two paramedics coming to her rescue.

“The streets and roads of Gaza City were very beautiful and safe before Israel started the war on the Gaza Strip,” said Najla Asbitan, one of Palestinian women trapped in the midst of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. She misses the days before the war.

Najla Asbitan fears while walking around the streets of Gaza City. “I condemn the silence of the international community and human rights organizations, which have so far failed to protect civilians. When will this fear end? Massacres have been committed against civilians.”

‘Women are targeted in dead-end streets’

Najla Asbitan has mixed feelings; feeling happy to have survived from Israel’s attacks but sad for the children and women who were killed in Israel’s attacks. “Several days ago, an Israeli airstrike targeted civilians at the Al-Saraya intersection in central Gaza City and killed dozens of people. Streets are not safe anymore. Women are targeted in dead-end streets by Israeli forces.”

All the streets of the Old City of Gaza have been closed due to the destroyed buildings, she told NuJINHA. “I will never forget the tragedy in the Al Jalaa neighborhood. Israeli forces besieged us for four days without food and water. Two women were burned alive under the rubble of a building targeted by Israeli forces. I still hear the screams of those two women.”

Najla Asbitan and other people tried to rescue people trapped under the rubble. All Najla Asbitan wants is the end of this war.