CrossFireArabia
Among the graves of the dead the Abu Samak family sleeps on the ground in the Al-Sawarha cemetery in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. They forcibly came here following the Israeli army’s decision to evict them from their homes east of Deir al-Balah, a few days ago according to the Palestinian Information Center.
Where to go?
Adham, head of the family, said “the decision to forcibly evict us fell like a thunderbolt, and the first thing that came our minds was where do we go?”
“All of the areas west of Deir al-Balah, which the Israeli occupation army asked us them to go to, were completely full, leaving us with few options, thus we settled here, sleeping on the ground between the graves of the dead,” Abu Samak added.
“We are dead while we are alive, the Israeli army continues to kill us – it’s been nearly a year now – and the world is watching us and does not care.
What happened to humanity, what law, or custom states that our children should sleep in the open and in fear among the graves of the dead,” he wounders.
On 24-25 August, the Israeli occupation forces issued evacuation orders to residents of many neighborhoods in Deir al-Balah, telling them to head to the so-called humanitarian zone they keep establishing but last Thursday, they asked some of them to return to their neighborhoods once again.
Most difficult war
Ibtisam Abu Amra’s situation is no better than that of Abu Samak: She was forced to flee from the Abu Areef area east of Deir al-Balah to the cemetery in the city center.
“This war is the most difficult, the army tells us to go to safe areas, then it bombs and targets civilians in them. Where is the security and safety the Israeli army claims to be providing,” she asked.
“We were displaced to the cemeteries, which are not safe, the army has already invaded them, bulldozing them and wreaking havoc and destruction in them, neither the living nor the dead are safe.”
“Displacement is torment, asking you to collect what is left of your belongings, your children and even the elderly in your home to the unknown, is persecution,” She explained. “We found nothing but the cemetery, so here we are living among the dead.”
According to international reports, more than two million Palestinians are crowded into what is called the humanitarian zone, which is less than 11% of the entire Gaza Strip, in extremely harsh and tragic conditions.
Out of every 10 Palestinians, 9 have been forced to leave their homes and be displaced once or several times, according to reports from international organizations.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are patiently and hopefully waiting for the moment when the bloody war will stop so that their repeated displacement will stop and they can return, even to the ruins of their destroyed homes.
