About fifteen months ago, on October 13, 2023, I only had one wish: return to my home in the city of Gaza, of which I was displaced by force by the Israeli army, and Do not relive a second Nakba Like the one suffered from my grandparents.
That day, and during the last fifteen months, I was sure that, as soon as the displaced people were allowed to return to their homes in the city of Gaza and the north of the strip, I would be one of the first to run to arrive to arrive To my home. Sometimes, I told the displaced people with me in the same refuge that, if it had to Walk barefoot the 12 kilometers back to my houseI would do it without hesitation.
But about three weeks have passed since the Palestinians were allowed to return to the north, and yet I continue in my refuge in the center of the strip, Unable to return home.
Around the 90% of residential homes and buildings have been completely destroyed or seriously damaged. Despite considering me one of the luckiest people in Gaza, because my house was only reached by an artillery projectile and was partially damaged, I remain one of the hundreds of thousands of people whose homes have been uninhabitable.
To make Gaza homes uninhabitable, the Israeli army not only bombed them, destroyed and razed. Implemented a much more insidious strategy, designed to guarantee that devastation last long after the war ends, affecting not only those who lost their homes completely, but the entire population.
Through him Use of highly destructive weapons and deliberate destruction Of vital infrastructure, they have created an environment in which reconstruction is almost impossible in the near future, and the effects of devastation will pursue generations.
Today, my home is still standing, but it has been devoid of the most basic: the sewerage system is completely destroyedthere is no access to water and electricity and telecommunications have completely disappeared.
While I keep carrying with me the keys of my house, it torments me the painful irony that, despite having them, I can’t open the door, because it was reduced to pieces.
Residents cannot even access large parts of their neighborhoods due to The debris that block the roads.
Overwhelmed by the incessant requests of residents to remove debris and repair the infrastructure, The municipal services of Gaza have not been able to respond. This is due, in large part, to the deliberate destruction of most of your team and the loss of most of your staff.
The houses of many of my friends had not yet been achieved by Israeli attacks until the last week before the high fire agreement entered into force. During that particular week, Hundreds of homes were reduced to debris without any justification.
As the fire approached the fire, Israeli forces intensified the bombings Against homes and vital infrastructure throughout the strip, especially in the north, making sure that, when residents were finally allowed to return, they would not find anything and were forced to leave once again.
The attacks were not only aimed at buildings; They aimed Delete memories, eradicate communities and leave families without means to rebuild. With each bomb that fell, a part of Gaza’s identity was annihilated, and those who survived were not only with physical scars, but with the certainty that the land they once called home had been turned into a sand.
Today, hundreds of thousands of residents throughout the Gaza Strip have had to Install tents On the rubble of their old houses or have returned to their shelters, helpless before the unprecedented devastation of infrastructure.
As part of the “Humanitarian Protocol” of the Alto El Fuego Agreement between Israel and the Palestinian features, the entry of heavy equipment, including excavators to remove debris and vehicles to repair vital infrastructure was supposed to be allowed. However, Israel has severely restricted its entranceleaving thousands of families in a desperate situation.
More than a lost home
Thousands of loved ones are still missingtrapped under the rubble of what their homes were once. Without means to withdraw the remains, there is no hope of knowing their destiny or giving them a worthy burial.
But, despite the lack of equipment and reconstruction materials, many Palestinians throughout Gaza, including myself, We have already begun to rebuild, With our own hands, the little that can be recovered from our homes.
With second -hand materials Or supplies at exorbitant prices, we are doing everything possible to make habitable again, even partially, our houses.
This is not just a matter of having a place to live; It is an act of resistance. We refuse to allow history to be repeated, that this destruction converts our homes, like those of our grandparents, into simple distant memories.
Each broken brick we place, each shattered window that we cover with plastic is a Battle against forced displacement that has persecuted our people for generations.
#returned #home #Gaza
