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‘We’re dead alive’: A year of living, reporting the war on Gaza
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2024/10/10/were-dead-alive-a-year-of-living-and-reporting-the-war-on-gaza
A year into the war, families in Deir el-Balah’s Ard Shurab camp share their everyday struggles, marked by increasing hardships and loss.
Umm Muhammad worries about her daughter’s engagement during the conflict, while Najla, a local hairdresser, finds herself busier than ever, offering beauty services amidst the chaos.
As displacement becomes the new normal, the residents are adapting to their changed reality.
A year of life during the war in Gaza
Pretty genius really (excerpt about schooling)
The thought of her losing an entire school year drove me crazy with worry. I tried everything I could to resist it. When I learned that the Ministry of Education had developed a distance learning programme for children who had been displaced to Egypt, I knew I’d do anything to get her onto it - even though there was no way for us to leave Gaza.
My sister had left for Egypt months earlier, so I sent her my daughter’s documents and all the required paperwork. After many attempts and using persistent circumvention methods, I was able to include my daughter's name in the list of students in Egypt.
The next challenge was to get an internet connection. The lines had been cut and the telephone exchanges were completely out of order. So, I took a detour, enlisting the help of a relative who works as a communications engineer.
It took two weeks of trying until the internet connection worked but when it did, I was overwhelmed with joy and relief. I wanted to shout my gratitude to the relative who would remind me every day not to tell anyone, lest they be held accountable. Accountable for restoring one of our most basic rights. Accountable for a secret internet connection that would allow my daughter to continue her secret education.
At 3pm every day, I’d declare a state of emergency in the house so that my daughter could sit in front of my mobile phone or laptop and connect to Microsoft Teams for her daily lessons. If I was out reporting, I’d make sure that my sister or husband were there to remind her.
I’d worry constantly that the teachers would realise she wasn’t in Egypt but in Gaza.
“Turn off the microphone so no one hears the buzzing sound around you,” I’d tell her. “If there is shelling and sounds of gunfire, turn off the microphone and don't answer. Make excuses about the internet connection,” I’d remind her.
Sometimes she would ask me why. “We learn in secret, my dear,” I’d respond.
For five months, she learned like this. Five months of learning amid the noise and destruction of war as she pretended to be safely removed from it. We printed each textbook at an exorbitant cost, and she handed in each assignment via WhatsApp. Then, that most precious of things - a completed school year and an official certificate advancing her to the fourth grade.
Mom of the year. Distract her daughter from the war and keep her on track with education. (Also for putting up with MS teams har har)
A Palestinian mother’s year of resilience after giving birth on October 7, 2023
A Palestinian woman marks her son’s first birthday on October 7, as she recalls the dramatic night of his delivery under the sounds of air strikes one year ago.
UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’
A United Nations inquiry says it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.
A statement by ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay released ahead of a full report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war.
“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay, whose report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.
The UN inquiry’s statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.
