What It's Like to Live Beneath Bombs in Gaza
GAZA - I tried to write two days ago, but I did not know where I should start.
Do I start talking about the terror and the fear that we feel due to continuous bombardment of houses and agricultural lands across Gaza by Israeli warplanes? Or do I tell you about the bombing by marine boats all that make us feel that we are threatened with death at any time?
GAZA - I tried to write two days ago, but I did not know where I should start.
Do I start talking about the terror and the fear that we feel due to continuous bombardment of houses and agricultural lands across Gaza by Israeli warplanes? Or do I tell you about the bombing by marine boats all that make us feel that we are threatened with death at any time?
But I decided to write about last night; it was the hardest and the heaviest. Many homes and mosques were bombed randomly. A hospital and association for the disabled were targeted too. We spent all night in fear and tension without electricity trying to calm the children. No matter how hard we tried, they did not stop crying.
In the area where I live, three houses and a mosque were bombed in a period of 15 minutes. Messages reached the many of the people ordering them to leave their homes, some residents left and others decided to stay.
I called my friend Maha after I heard the news about the bombing of several houses in the Deir al-Balah Refugee Camp and I could not reach her. My heart was racing. She contacted me after hours to tell me that they left their home. Their neighbors had received a warning message before their home was bombed. Four floors with four families and they had just three minutes to leave the house.
They live in a very crowded residential area with no space between homes. All of the refugee camps in Gaza are like this. So they told all their neighbors about the warning message.
What could they do in 3 minutes? Is it enough to come to grips with the shock or to take the papers, clothes and property?
They did not take anything with them.
The house was bombed while people were leaving their homes. It was then bombed again killing and injuring a lot of people, mostly women and children, and caused many houses in the area to collapse.
My friend Maha's family is one of hundreds of families whose houses were destroyed, leaving them homeless without anything. They went to her uncle's house where 20 people are living in less than 120 square meters (1200 square feet).
This is happening all over Gaza. The same story is repeated every hour with a different family.
We have endured a very bad situation for years due to the siege. And now we are threatened with death at any time.
But we love life and we will stay here.
You can actively support those living under siege in Gaza by sending Emergency Aid Now! through the Middle East Children's Alliance.
FINAL DAY! This is urgent.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just hours left in our Spring Campaign, we're still falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
GAZA - I tried to write two days ago, but I did not know where I should start.
Do I start talking about the terror and the fear that we feel due to continuous bombardment of houses and agricultural lands across Gaza by Israeli warplanes? Or do I tell you about the bombing by marine boats all that make us feel that we are threatened with death at any time?
But I decided to write about last night; it was the hardest and the heaviest. Many homes and mosques were bombed randomly. A hospital and association for the disabled were targeted too. We spent all night in fear and tension without electricity trying to calm the children. No matter how hard we tried, they did not stop crying.
In the area where I live, three houses and a mosque were bombed in a period of 15 minutes. Messages reached the many of the people ordering them to leave their homes, some residents left and others decided to stay.
I called my friend Maha after I heard the news about the bombing of several houses in the Deir al-Balah Refugee Camp and I could not reach her. My heart was racing. She contacted me after hours to tell me that they left their home. Their neighbors had received a warning message before their home was bombed. Four floors with four families and they had just three minutes to leave the house.
They live in a very crowded residential area with no space between homes. All of the refugee camps in Gaza are like this. So they told all their neighbors about the warning message.
What could they do in 3 minutes? Is it enough to come to grips with the shock or to take the papers, clothes and property?
They did not take anything with them.
The house was bombed while people were leaving their homes. It was then bombed again killing and injuring a lot of people, mostly women and children, and caused many houses in the area to collapse.
My friend Maha's family is one of hundreds of families whose houses were destroyed, leaving them homeless without anything. They went to her uncle's house where 20 people are living in less than 120 square meters (1200 square feet).
This is happening all over Gaza. The same story is repeated every hour with a different family.
We have endured a very bad situation for years due to the siege. And now we are threatened with death at any time.
But we love life and we will stay here.
You can actively support those living under siege in Gaza by sending Emergency Aid Now! through the Middle East Children's Alliance.
GAZA - I tried to write two days ago, but I did not know where I should start.
Do I start talking about the terror and the fear that we feel due to continuous bombardment of houses and agricultural lands across Gaza by Israeli warplanes? Or do I tell you about the bombing by marine boats all that make us feel that we are threatened with death at any time?
But I decided to write about last night; it was the hardest and the heaviest. Many homes and mosques were bombed randomly. A hospital and association for the disabled were targeted too. We spent all night in fear and tension without electricity trying to calm the children. No matter how hard we tried, they did not stop crying.
In the area where I live, three houses and a mosque were bombed in a period of 15 minutes. Messages reached the many of the people ordering them to leave their homes, some residents left and others decided to stay.
I called my friend Maha after I heard the news about the bombing of several houses in the Deir al-Balah Refugee Camp and I could not reach her. My heart was racing. She contacted me after hours to tell me that they left their home. Their neighbors had received a warning message before their home was bombed. Four floors with four families and they had just three minutes to leave the house.
They live in a very crowded residential area with no space between homes. All of the refugee camps in Gaza are like this. So they told all their neighbors about the warning message.
What could they do in 3 minutes? Is it enough to come to grips with the shock or to take the papers, clothes and property?
They did not take anything with them.
The house was bombed while people were leaving their homes. It was then bombed again killing and injuring a lot of people, mostly women and children, and caused many houses in the area to collapse.
My friend Maha's family is one of hundreds of families whose houses were destroyed, leaving them homeless without anything. They went to her uncle's house where 20 people are living in less than 120 square meters (1200 square feet).
This is happening all over Gaza. The same story is repeated every hour with a different family.
We have endured a very bad situation for years due to the siege. And now we are threatened with death at any time.
But we love life and we will stay here.
You can actively support those living under siege in Gaza by sending Emergency Aid Now! through the Middle East Children's Alliance.

