“No electricity, no water, no gas. » In response to the Hamas attack on Israel, the Jewish state on Monday ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip. The strip of land, wedged between Israel and the Mediterranean, is home to 2.3 million people. It is now almost cut off from the world, surrounded by Israeli soldiers. Between bombings and lack of water, Gazans recount the nightmare that their daily life has become in the media.
Gazans ‘live in panic and fear’
The Gaza Strip is being shelled by the Israeli army. South of the Al-Rimal neighborhood in central Gaza, Nahla Shawa recounts the bombs and destruction daily The world. “Last night was terrible, but the last few hours have been even worse,” she said Monday afternoon, referring to “intense bombings.” “The scale of destruction exceeds that of the 2014 war or [du conflit] of 2021. It’s continuous and we don’t know when it will stop,” she testifies.
Salim Hussein, 55 years old, explains to CNN that his building was completely destroyed by an Israeli strike. With his family, he was able to escape a few moments before the tower collapsed. “We left the building with only the clothes we were wearing,” explains the father, who adds that his family has nothing and nowhere to go. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip “live in panic and fear,” says Hani el-Bawab, 75, whose house was destroyed by the collapse of an adjacent tower. “I don’t know what to do,” breathes the man, now homeless, like his family.
“There is no water in the tap”
“The situation is catastrophic,” says Nabila, a resident of Gaza, at the microphone of France Info. The latter is particularly concerned about the “complete siege” ordered by Jerusalem and while the UN reminded the Jewish state on Tuesday that “the imposition of sieges which endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of essential goods their survival is prohibited by international humanitarian law.”
And precisely, Israel has turned off the taps even though 95% of the water is unfit for consumption in Gaza and the country supplies 10% of the annual water consumption of this Palestinian territory. “There is no water in the tap. We only have an hour at best, but that’s not enough to fill the tanks. Water desalination companies no longer work because there is no security. We can’t get trucks around to buy water,” says Nabila.
“We are cut off from the world”
“No electricity, no food, no water, no gas. Everything is closed (…) we fight animals and act accordingly,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday. Gazans are also experiencing massive power cuts. Israel has suspended all electricity deliveries and while Palestinians had only six or seven hours of electricity a day, they are now rationed to two or three hours.
“We can have Internet just through routers or landline phones. We are cut off from the world for hours. We hear shooting and bombings everywhere, but we don’t know where. We don’t know who was killed, who was bombed…” testifies Khan Younès to France Info. Thousands of people have been injured, but hospitals are also likely to face energy supply problems. “We now rely on solar panels or generators located inside hospitals, but the fuel needed to operate them is barely enough for five days at best. It’s a disaster,” says Mohamed Abu Selmiyeh, director of a pediatric hospital, interviewed by France Info.