The Last Refuge of Gaza’s Displaced Turn into Temporary Graves

Palestinians in the courtyard of the school housing displaced people after it was targeted by Israeli bombing in Gaza City on Saturday (AFP)
Palestinians in the courtyard of the school housing displaced people after it was targeted by Israeli bombing in Gaza City on Saturday (AFP)
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The Last Refuge of Gaza’s Displaced Turn into Temporary Graves

Palestinians in the courtyard of the school housing displaced people after it was targeted by Israeli bombing in Gaza City on Saturday (AFP)
Palestinians in the courtyard of the school housing displaced people after it was targeted by Israeli bombing in Gaza City on Saturday (AFP)

Israeli forces have turned schools - which the displaced used as their last refuge - into mass graves, after systematically targeting many of them in the past few weeks, causing widespread destruction and numerous casualties.

The Israeli occupation forces are committing massacres inside schools, employing a new strategy that goes beyond targeting individual classrooms or side rooms. They are deliberately destroying large sections of these schools to keep them out of service and prevent the displaced from returning after significant damage.

On Saturday, Israel bombed Al-Tabaeen private school, which shelters about 1,800 displaced people, mostly from the destroyed Shujaiya neighborhood. Those had been forced to flee to the school a few days earlier after the occupation planes had destroyed two other schools.

Nermin Abed, who lost her husband Abdullah Al-Arair, among about 100 Palestinians who died in the attack, said that she could not believe that she saw her husband for the last time just moments before he left the classroom, where they were staying, to perform the dawn prayer inside a small prayer hall on the ground floor of the school.

Abed mourned her husband with tears, and collapsed several times when she was unable to accompany him to be buried, along with several others, in a temporary graveyard near the Shujaiya neighborhood.

Ahmed Abed, Nermin’s brother, told Asharq Al-Awsat that they arrived at Al-Tabaeen School after miraculously escaping Dalal Al-Maghribi School, which was bombed earlier this month.

“There is nowhere else to go. Every place in Gaza is a target,” he said.

In the Gaza Strip, government schools, those affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and private schools, have all been converted into shelters. Since the beginning of the war, 175 of these centers have been bombed, including 154 schools, resulting in the death of over 1,150 Palestinians, according to statistics from the Gaza government media office.

UNRWA confirmed that 190 of its buildings in the Gaza Strip were completely or partially destroyed, while two-thirds of its schools, which included displaced persons, saw the same fate.

Mohammad al-Jaabari, one of the survivors of the massacre who has lost at least 11 of his cousins, finds no place to shelter except these schools. He told Asharq al-Awsat: “This massacre was not and will not be the last, but give me a safe place to go to. They are targeting all schools in the north.”

The occupation has targeted seven schools housing displaced people since the beginning of this August, all in different areas of Gaza City, leaving at least 177 victims and dozens of injured.

Israel claims that it is targeting shelter centers, especially schools, under the pretext that they are used by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements to carry out attacks. However, numerous accounts backed by photos and videos reveal that many casualties are among women and children.

Hamas has denied the presence of gunmen in Al-Tabaeen School, and stated that there were strict instructions to ensure no fighters were among civilians.



Desperate for Cash, Gazans Sell Clothes Plucked from Rubble

Desperate for Cash, Gazans Sell Clothes Plucked from Rubble
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Desperate for Cash, Gazans Sell Clothes Plucked from Rubble

Desperate for Cash, Gazans Sell Clothes Plucked from Rubble

Moein Abu Odeh clambered up a pile of rubble in southern Gaza, searching for clothes, shoes, anything he could sell to raise cash more than a year since Israel started its relentless bombardments.

The father-of-four delved under blocks and brushed away piles of concrete dust at the site of one airstrike in the wrecked city of Khan Younis. His plan was to sell what he found to buy flour.

"If food and drink were available, believe me, I would give (these clothes) to charity," he said. "But the struggles we are going through (mean we) have to sell our clothes to eat and drink."

Widespread shortages and months of grinding war have generated a trade in old clothing, much of it salvaged from the homes of people who have died in the conflict.

At one makeshift market, shoes, shirts, sweaters and sneakers were laid out on dusty blankets, Reuters reported.

A girl tried on a single worn-out boot, which could come in handy this winter if she can afford it in Gaza's ruined economy.

A trader got an edge on his competitors by shouting out that his wares were European.

One man laughed as he got a young boy to try on a green jacket.

"We get clothing from a man whose house was destroyed. He was digging in the concrete to get some (clothing) and we buy them like this and sell them at a good price," displaced Palestinian Louay Abdel-Rahman said.

He and his family arrived in the city from another part of Gaza with only the clothes they were wearing. So he also keeps some back for them. "The seasons have changed from summer to winter and we need clothing," he said.

In April, the UN estimated it would take 14 years to dispose of the wreckage in Gaza. The UN official overseeing the problem said the clean-up would cost at least $1.2 billion.

More than 128,000 buildings have been destroyed or severely or moderately damaged in Gaza as a result of the conflict, the UN says. Underneath all of that are seams of mangled clothes.

"All our children only have short-sleeve clothing and nobody is helping them," Saeed Doula, a father-of-seven, said. "The war is all-encompassing."