2015, Gaza. A child born in Gaza 2008 has lived through three wars and many skirmishes. The war of 2014 claimed approximately 2500 killed, More than 2300 of those were Palestinians. But, in the midst of it all, children are playing, coping, or trying to cope. A psychologist i asked about PTSD joked with a black sense of humor that there were no PTSD in Gaza, “There is no Post traumatic stress disorder in Gaza, because there is no “post” - it is continuing trauma.”
Twenty-two year old Omar Manna was a baker. He was killed last night not far from the birthplace of Jesus when the Israeli army came to arrest his brother.
As a protest for the shooting Palestinian authorities called for a general strike.
The latest killings bring the death toll in the occupied Palestinian territories this year to at least 208 Palestinians, of whom 156 were killed in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year recorded for Palestinians since 2005.
Gaza, Beit Hanoun July 2014
Normally the village of Beit Hanoun has 50 000 inhabitants. Today many of them are dead, injured or homeless. When a short humanitarian truce is proclaimed hundreds of people rush back to try to salvage belongings and collect their dead. A pungent smell of death is everywhere. Large swaths of the area is totally destroyed. Bodies are buried under the rubble and the streets are littered with dead animals. The Israeli drones are constantly humming above. A block away from the destroyed hospital Diab Ahmed Kafara shouts out his anger over the war.
Gaza, 2009, Beit Lahiya
The War of 2008-2009 in Gaza was dubbed “Operation Cast Lead” by the Israeli government. The numbers of casualties are, as always, in war in dispute. According to B’Tselem, around 1391 Palestinians were killed, including an estimated 759 civilians, this included 110 women and 344 children. An Amnesty international report stated that “lives were lost because Israeli forces frequently obstructed access to medical care." It also condemned the use of weapons such as white phosphorous and artillery shells. Amnesty also said Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups had endangered Palestinian civilians by firing rockets from residential neighbourhoods and storing weapons in them. Israel lost 10 members of the security forces in the three-week offensive, including four by "friendly fire". Three Israeli civilians were also killed.
In addition to the human cost, hundreds of houses were destroyed by Israeli forces. The house of Bothina Khader was one of those. Israeli tank crews drove up to her neighbourhood, planted explosives and blew up her home. She was devastated, now living i a tent next to the ruins of her home.
“The only thing we have left is the mortgage.”
Gaza, July 2021
The war started May 10. According the Israeli military more than 4,300 rockets were fired towards Israel by militants and the Israeli military struck more than 1,000 targets in Gaza. When the war was over, according to local sources, 12 people, including 2 children were killed in Israel. In Gaza at least 243 people were killed, including more than 100 women and children. A thirteen year old child in Gaza has lived through four wars.
In the neighborhood of Beit Hanoun life is slowly returning to normal. When afternoon turns into evening Munira is playing with her little sister Mervat.