October 7, 2024
It’s been one
year since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, following the Hamas-led
attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and following 75 years of Israel’s Occupation of
Palestine. More than half of the Gaza Strip’s buildings, businesses, roads,
farms, hospitals, and schools have been completely destroyed. Over 41,000
people have been reported killed, with this number growing daily. To
commemorate a year of what has been called “the most documented genocide in
history,” TRNN asked some residents of Gaza to describe their year. This is
what they told us.
Transcript
Narrator:
It’s been one
year since Israel launched its war on Gaza. More than half of the strip’s
buildings,
businesses, roads, farms, hospitals, and schools have been completely
destroyed.
Over 41 thousand
people have been reported killed, with this number growing daily. The
Real News
network asked some residents of Gaza to describe their year. This is what they
told us…
Sami Isa
Ramadan:
No matter how
much I try to explain, I couldn’t describe even 1% of what’s happened to us.
In general, this
war will be recorded in history. It should have its own title page in history.
For the whole world, eh? Not only in the Gaza Strip, or Palestine. This war of
Oct. 7, of the
Israeli army on
Gaza, needs to be studied in history, because schools, hospitals, buildings,
homes,
fishermen, farmers, workers, there was nothing that was not targeted
straightaway.
Narrator:
Sami Isa Ramadan
has been displaced four times since Oct. 7th and now lives amidst the
rubble in a
bombed-out building, in Deir Al Balah.
Sami Isa
Ramadan:
I lost a brother
— I don’t know if he’s in prison or dead. My siblings have been scattered.
Three of them
were injured. A missile struck our neighbor’s house and three of them were
injured, and my
father was killed. God rest his soul. I mean, it’s a catastrophe. Maybe the
camera — you are
filming a tiny clip, out of millions of hours. To tell you the truth, I’m
tired. Truly tired, you know what I mean? And this is my suffering. Out of 2
million people, I’m just one person.
Narrator:
While it’s true
that Sami is indeed only one of around 2.2 million residents of the strip, his
experience does
reflect the experiences of many of his fellow Gazans since October 7th.
Sabreen Badwan:
The first week
of the war, the Israelis contacted us and said: “Your area is not safe, you
must
evacuate. This
is a combat area.” They threw leaflets. At first, we didn’t want to move, but
then when we saw
most people leaving — it was like a sign of the day of judgment — If you
were to see it,
it was like the Nakba of 1948. I mean, I felt it was like the scenes of the
1948
displacement
that our ancestors lived through. We used to hear about it like an abstract
dream and
couldn’t believe it. Then we lived and experienced it, except harsher and more
difficult.
Narrator:
A staggering 90%
of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced since October 7th, making it
an almost
universal experience. Sabreen Badwan is from Tel Al Hawa, and like everyone we
spoke to, has
moved multiple times attempting to find safety.
Sabreen Badwan:
I went to a
house in Al Nuseirat, in the center of the Gaza strip. We spent a single night
there. That same
night we awoke in the middle of a massacre. The entire block was
completely
destroyed. From this day I was convinced the enemy was lying—there is no safe
place. I decided
to move to a UNWRA school because before this war, as we used to know,
the UNWRA
schools were safe.
Narrator:
According to
UNRWA, Israeli forces have targeted a total of 190 UN-run facilities in the
course of the
war. That’s despite the agency sharing the coordinates for each of its
locations
well in advance.
Two hundred and twenty UNRWA employees have been killed in Gaza over
the last year,
making this the deadliest war for UN employees in United Nations history.
Sabreen Badwan:
During this war,
everything changed. We went to live in a school for around three months,
then we were
again warned to leave the area of the school because the Israelis told us it’s
not safe, it’s
deadly and dangerous. So we left the school terrified, not knowing where to go,
as bombs were
exploding. We were terrified. We didn’t know where to go. There was
nowhere for us
to go. We went to a house: we were bombed. We went to a school: we were
bombed. Where
should we go then? What do we do?
Ni’ma Ramlawi:
What should we
do? Our entire house was flattened and we were displaced to Al Nuseirat,
and from there
we came here. They took us to the schools. We were in Al Razi and then
they [the
Israelis] took us.
Narrator:
Death has
touched each and every person in Gaza since Oct. 7.
Ni’ma Ramlawi:
They hit our
home, so we left — it collapsed on us. Our neighbors were killed. The entire
block behind us
was destroyed. Our house collapsed.
Sabreen Badwan:
My father was
killed at the beginning of the war. This saddened and preoccupied me a lot.
Especially
because I couldn’t say goodbye to him. He was north of the Gaza river and I was
here south of
the Gaza river. So I couldn’t say farewell, and this impacted me and my mental
state.
Sami Isa
Ramadan:
The war has
affected everyone. There isn’t a family in the Gaza Strip that hasn’t been
injured by the
occupation forces. The one who lost his dad, the one who lost his siblings,
there’s no
family — me, my family is small, and approximately 20 people have gone. This
was my boys’
birthday party, in our modest and simple home.
Narrator:
The UN
children’s agency has described Gaza as “a graveyard for children.” Children
have
died from bombs,
bullets, disease, and malnutrition at an alarming rate. And mental health
issues such as
speech impediments and PTSD affect almost every child.
Ni’ma Ramlawi:
The war has
affected children and young people badly.
Sami Isa
Ramadan:
The children, my
children, for example. For the basics, mosquitoes — we haven’t got a
solution. Aside
from the skin diseases that have spread, the epidemics that have affected
the old and the
young. As you can see, I’m sure you have seen the suffering of the children,
especially the
children.
Ni’ma Ramlawi:
What? After a
year of war? What more do they want to happen to us? Hunger! Everyone is
hungry. And they
died of hunger. And with this war, they killed us and killed our children.
They’re martyrs.
They bombed our homes. There’s no house left for us to live in — neither
us nor our
children. Are we going to stay like this in tents? And the winter is coming,
too.
Look at how we
are. Exhaustion and sickness— we are grown adults and we can’t manage
our mental
state. There’s children — my grandson has malnutrition grade 2 from the
situation we are
in.
Narrator:
Ruined
infrastructure, open sewage, a lack of hospitals and medication, and
communicable
disease have now
become a threat for the people of Gaza.
Shohda Abu
Ajweh:
God has
afflicted us, aside from the war, with another war: the war of diseases and no
medications. I
mean, my grandchildren are suffering from chicken pox, we haven’t found any
medications. Not to mention the contaminated water and the open sewage. The
Israelis
targeted
infrastructure on purpose to provoke the spread of disease. Right now the
borders
are closed.
People are not receiving any aid, so people are suffering. They’re suffering
from
everything, from
a lack of everything. We ask Allah to remove this affliction and to help all
our people.
Riadh al Drimli:
Even if things
were available, there’s no money to buy it. It’s really expensive! And there’s
no income on top, I’m telling you. For example, I make 20 shekels ($5.30). What
am I going to do with that 20 shekels ($5.30)? I can buy some drinking water or
bring something for the house? It’s not enough!
Narrator:
Riad al Drimli
used to work as an electrician, since October 7th, he was displaced alongside
his family and
is now selling falafel to try to make ends meet.
Riad al Drimli:
I mean, what can
I say? A lot of suffering. From tent to tent and ants and worms. Maybe for
someone living
in the rubble of their destroyed house would probably be nicer than the tents,
the sewage, the water, and all the problems. Feel for us! You Arabs: rise up
against these oppressors. Look at our suffering! Forget about us: what about
our children! Our daughters! People are being slaughtered – and they are okay
watching us bleed?
Marwan Ibrahim
Salem:
My message to
the whole world — the Arab world, to Europe, to East to West — to all — is
to stand with
the oppressed people. Because this nation is oppressed. And oppression never
lasts. I ask for
an end to the war, and the return of people to their homes, and the rebuilding
of our homes.
That’s what I ask from the world.
I hope to return
to my home! Me and my wife. People want to return to their land! To return to
Gaza city, to our neighborhood. To our families. To see who’s good, and who’s
dead.
Sami Isa
Ramadan:
To this day, the
bodies of my relatives are still buried under the rubble, from
the early days
of the war. All the buildings you see here, they were bombed with people in
them, they collapsed on people’s backs. On people’s heads. There’s no phone
call, warning you: ‘Hello, you need to leave the house’ —- no —- the house is
flattened with people still inside. This is a cowardly and savage army. It has
no humanity.
I have
experienced the most bitter experience here. For me, the worst experience I
have
ever had is
living in a tent. We are the living dead, here in this tent. A death sentence.
We
have been
sentenced to death — they just haven’t carried out the execution. And our faith
is
in God. It’s in
God’s hands.
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