Tales from a Palestinian student in Gaza

Dear Friends,

Today is the second day since Israel started the massacre on Gaza, and I assure you that here, everyone is waiting for the time of his death, as no one knows if he will die or still stay alive…

Yesterday, on Saturday the 27/12, at 11.30 A.M, I was still home with my little brother and sister who were getting ready to head up to school. I cannot forget the sound of the bombings. They were really loud. For two years I haven’t heard such a noise. It’s scary, and horrible…

My little brother and sister started crying, heavily and louder when we noticed the smoke that was coming out the bombed places. They were really, really close from our home, and many helicopters and F-16s were in the sky…

My mother was in the market, my dad was looking for my ill grandma and my other brothers were either at their work or the university… I tried to call my mom, my dad and my brothers but there was no network. There are always connexion problems.

All this, and our neighbour who never stopped crying because her older son went to the college that was located in the area of the bombings, fifteen minutes before the events…

It is terrible to face those moments when you don’t have electricity to understand what is happening around you…

Two hours later, all my family gathered in the house, we were all worried, thinking about anyone, thinking about ourselves. You didn’t see the birds flying away… it was really sad… even our cat was scared.

When we gathered home, everyone started to tell sad stories they heard. My 12 years old cousin was in College just next to a bombed site. He saw, like the other pupils, the blood of the martyrs, of the injured. He was frightened and as soon as he hears the noise of the airplanes, he’s hiding, crying and yelling… My uncle called at 2.00 AM to ask my father what to do with his child that cannot sleep anymore.

Another young man, 22 years-old was in one of the site bombed. All his friends were killed, so was his boss. He screamed and is still hurting for having seen those images… and many more stories…

Last night was so heavy and so slow that nobody could ever sleep… While writing this email now, I don’t want to say that the situation has calmed down… On the contrary. It’s even worse. The sky is filled with F-16s and helicopters…

The Israeli army has not stopped to bomb everywhere, all of the time. I am writing you now because I don’t even know if I’ll have the opportunity to do it later!

I know that media are blaming Hamas and consider it has the first responsible for everything that is happening now. But has Fatah who has always been begging for peace, changed anything in the West Bank? The Israelis are still building the Wall, increasing the checkpoints and arresting Palestinians for the sake of ‘security’… Hamas has not invaded Israel as they allowed themselves to invade Gaza. People from Hamas are trapped here, like any other Palestinians from Gaza.

I just get a phone call on my mobile – the one that everyone receives. They are threatening to bomb any house where they are weapons.