What is Happening on the Ground?

 

Day 40: November 15

 What is Happening on the Ground?

I have been trying to absorb and process the news of what is happening on the ground. For Palestinians in the West Bank and inside Israel, the situation is becoming so stressful. The Israeli government is increasing its persecutory measures and passing laws to subjugate Palestinians even more. Every night, dozens of young men and women all over the West Bank are being arrested by the Israeli army. On Checkpoints, Palestinians are no longer asked to show their identity cards but their phones, and anyone who has a photo or any content that the Israeli army believes or claims to support Hamas is arrested and severely beaten. A law has been passed to allow for the imprisonment of anyone who shares or writes anything on social media or who holds a photo the army classifies as antagonistic to Israel. The platform telegram, as an example, is considered as not favorable by the Israeli army. So, the persecution in the West Bank has only increased.

When contemplating the targets hit in Gaza, I also find these extremely worrying and heartbreaking. It has become clear to many Palestinians that the Israeli army is launching a military campaign to drive the people out of Gaza. I honestly see this war as an ethnic cleansing plan. This desire to get rid of non-Jews in Israel has always been an outspoken desire by Israeli officials, especially the current one. It is slowly being implemented by the measures taken, and laws passed over the years. In the first Intifada, for example, the late Israeli Prime minister, Issac Rabin, as a result of the massive demonstrations and the resilience that the Gazans have shown, openly said, “I wish we can drown Gaza in the sea.” This attempt to remove this part of the population from the Israeli calculations and responsibility is not a new one.

Here are some facts from the ground in Gaza. Every source of livelihood is being targeted not just in the North of Gaza but all over the Strip: bakeries, wheat mills, water-desalination and purification plants, sources of water like wells and artesian wells, solar panels, electricity sources, fuel generators, communication towers even if these exist in civilian apartment buildings, universities, UNRWA schools where displaced people are staying. These are the targets of the Israeli air strikes even in the South of Gaza, where people are asked to flee. Forty thousand apartment blocks are entirely destroyed. Nothing is spared, not even hospitals. This is why there is a large number of civilian deaths. People are hungry, thirsty, sick, injured, and burned from these airstrikes and have amputated limbs. Diseases connected to drinking contaminated water are spreading. The rainy season has just begun, and many people are now in the streets. Some people injured in their legs, for example, stay for days and nights, bleeding in the streets until they die. The odor of dead bodies is spreading. Degenerated bodies in places difficult to reach are gnawed by hungry dogs and nibbled on by crows. The one road open for people to walk towards the south is named by people in Gaza the “Death Road.” People walk in groups raising white cloth, hoping they won’t get shot at by snipers or shelled by tanks. Dead bodies are seen everywhere on this road. The Israeli army erected a checkpoint and picks on random people for questioning, and some are arrested, but no one knows for sure where they are taken. If anyone walking on this street drops anything and bends to pick it up, they are shot immediately. Today, in one airstrike in a UN school in the South of Gaza, where people were asked to evacuate, a number of young boys lining up to collect water from a water tank were bombed, and many died as a result.

In my opinion, observing what is being targeted is proof enough of the real aim of this war. Israel is clearly trying to push the civilians to leave by making Gaza an uninhabited wasteland. Israel is not trying to reoccupy Gaza or manage its civilian population, and I doubt that it will try to reinstall the Palestinian Authority or any other body to rule Gaza.  Every source of life is being eradicated and targeted with- if I may add- the knowledge and complacency of the United States government, army, and other Western governments like France, England, Canada, Germany, and many others that are NATO-bound.

The observation of what is being targeted explains why hospitals are so essential to be emptied, and their reputation tarnished as being used by Hamas members. They are the last places or signs of life left. The steadfastness of the doctors not leaving, I believe, is very impressive. Those in the hospitals, the patients, the newly born, and the injured could not leave because their condition needed medical equipment, so their families stayed with them. There were displaced people as well whose homes were destroyed. But it was important for Israel to empty these hospitals no matter what. They pressured the people in hospitals in so many ways. The dead bodies of those who died in Al-Shifa Hospital as a result of the shelling of some buildings in the medical compound were not allowed to be buried in the hospital grounds for days. Whoever came near these bodies was shot dead. People moving within the hospital buildings were also shot at. The Israeli army tanks were at the doors of Al-Shifa hospital for days. Why didn’t they enter the hospital, take over the responsibility, and provide the necessary life elements like fuel, medicine, food, and water for the civilian patients? Why announce that it was a military target? Why shed so much media attention on an alleged Hamas 'headquarters'? So that the alleged Hamas fighters could run away? Something does not add up.  Up until now, forty days in, the Israeli army has not arrested or announced the killing of one Hamas leader.

Early this morning, the Israeli army went into Al-Shifa hospital compound, found only civilians, and interrogated doctors and nurses. They forced many patients out.  There were no reporters to document what was happening.

I hope that these hospitals will not be forcefully evacuated and then blown up or destroyed. If people were ever allowed to come back to the North of Gaza, destroying hospitals would be devastating for life in Gaza after the war. What is happening on the ground indicates that sources of life in Gaza are being erased to force Palestinians to leave on their own. This truly seems like a third displacement for Palestinians.

The real message for Palestinians is slowly becoming clear: “If you fight Israel, this is what will happen to you! Stay quiet and watch the land being taken away and given to Jews even if they live a continent away under the pretext of a biblical decree.” This is a recipe to radicalize future generations against Israel. I am sure nothing is divine in this war, nor will it ever be a successful policy for security, coexistence, or peace. I know this is called ethnic or, in this case, religious cleansing.