They Dreamed of Living in Peace: Gaza Teacher Mourns Students Killed by Israeli Strikes
09:35 GMT 04.11.2023 (Updated: 09:23 GMT 05.12.2023)
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise large-scale terrorist attack against Israel that left over 1,400 dead. Israel since then has launched a massive campaign of retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel.
Several weeks ago, Ruwaida Amer, a science teacher in southern Gaza, was enjoying days helping young school children craft science projects, taking an occasional selfie in the playground with a few of her joyful students, but all those moments have turned into distant memories crumbling under another cycle of another war.
The escalation of the conflict has resulted in thousands of people killed and injured on both sides, but an overwhelming majority of those killed are Palestinian. Gaza's Health Ministry said over 9,000 have been killed in the strip since the operation began. UNICEF earlier this week said at least 3,500 children are among the dead.
"I have lost many of my students, three of them between ages 10 and 13 age," Amer, 32, told Sputnik. "I have learned that they were killed in the war as a result of the Israeli bombing on Gaza. These children dreamed of a different future. They dreamed of living in peace."
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The children, Amer recalls, are terrified of the sounds of planes and missiles, something that has become all too familiar to them over the years.
Gaza residents have been living under a massive Israeli bombardment for nearly one month in the ongoing Gaza war. Israel aims to oust the Palestinian Hamas movement as a result of the attacks carried out on October 7, but the airstrikes seem to have had little effect as rocket fire continues towards Israel.
"Israel does not warn citizens before bombing homes, but it suddenly drops missiles on them while they are sleeping," Amer, who also lost her neighbors during the attacks, said. "The large number of martyrs are children, entire families were wiped out from the civil registry, while some families left one child alone, an orphan."
Amer said she specifically thinks about the fate of 7-year-old Odeh Abu Akar, who is now an orphan after an Israeli bomb hit his house, killing his entire immediate family members.
"Every day he misses his family and searches for his mother and father," Amer said. "He does not want to sleep or eat without his mother by his side, but his relatives try to console and support him."
Humanitarian Situation
Israel has Gaza under a siege that has created a dire humanitarian crisis for the millions of Palestinians living in the enclave.
"There is no water, no electricity, no fuel, and no food. How can the citizens of Gaza live without these basic needs? It is an unjust and massive siege," Amer said. "Citizens are trying to get water for washing and using toilets. Israel has cut off water from Gaza."
Gaza residents, according to Amer, must rely on wells that are pumped for water once a week to provide to the communities. The lack of electricity impedes the ability of medical providers in Gaza to care for the injured, Amer said.
"The power outage has led to a deterioration in the health sector," Amer said. "The European Gaza Hospital suffers from power outages that affect providing its health services inside the hospital. What may save the hospital is the availability of solar energy, which facilitates the work during the day, but at night it does not work."
Moreover, Amer mentioned that the two-day communications blackout on October 27 also added to the everyday struggle Gazans are facing in the war.
"The isolation from the world was also ugly, as if it was a deliberate plan to kill the Palestinians without being seen by the world. This is what the citizens of Gaza thought," Amer said. "That was a difficult moment."
Although thousands of Gaza residents were able to escape "destruction and death" after fleeing the northern Gaza Strip ahead of the Israeli invasion and intensified bombardment, they continue to face inhumane conditions, according to Amer.
3 November 2023, 06:08 GMT
One of them is Rawan Saed, 35, who recently fled from Gaza City to a school in Al-Fokhari School with her five children, Amer said.
Saed told Amer Israelis dropped leaflets in areas in northern Gaza warning people to evacuate to the city of Kahn Yunis. Saed, along with her husband and children, fled to the city of Khan Yunis and settled at an UNRWA-run school. Residents in the area provided Saed and her family with mattresses and blankets they could use to sleep in a classroom.
Saed, as quoted by Amer, said:
"We cannot use the toilets adequately, I had not showered since the beginning of the war until now, and I feel mentally and physically very tired... My children cannot sleep because of the crowded place and the noise here. I try to provide food for them, but there is no way to cook here."
Saed also worries about the psychological trauma of her five children.
"All my children are young, the oldest one of them is 12 years old and they have involuntary urination due to the intense sounds of bombing and missiles," Saed said as quoted by Amer. "They are afraid of any sound next to them. They do not like the night at all and cannot sleep during it. Two days ago, I left them to draw and then found them drawing the house and garden and dreaming of returning to their home."
