Green Left’s Alex Salmon spoke to Tamer Shaaban, a 20-year-old engineering student trapped in Gaza, about how his family’s life was torn apart when Israel launched its genocidal war in October last year.
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What was life like before the escalation of the genocide in October last year?
I am a member of a family of 30. My parents worked tirelessly to raise us and educate us. We lived a very ideal life full of happiness, love and tenderness.
My family was very large and loving. My parents always worked to raise and educate us and obtain our academic degrees. We celebrated our achievements together. The latest achievement was our celebration of the arrival of a new baby from my middle sister to the family — 10 days before October.
Before that we celebrated my brother Anas for obtaining his masters degree from the College of Management with Honours from Al-Aqsa University. All my family members are graduates from the Islamic University, and all of them obtained high grades with honours. We had many houses, lands and chalets where we spent our vacations happily and joyfully and celebrated our achievements.
Our happiness was increased by the laughter of our grandchildren that filled the place with joy. I was the youngest in the family. My father was very happy with the completion of high school and my enrolment in university.
I was studying at the Islamic University University in the College of Information Technology, Department of Mobile Computing and Smart Device Application. I was distinguished in my studies and very diligent, [and I was] racing to achieve my dreams and aspirations.
But life took its course. Neither hopes nor life went on as we had dreamed.
How has the escalation impacted you?
I lost all my possessions, my most precious things, my father, my older sister, her children, her husband, my grandmother and all my friends. I am now all alone, without family, friends, without a university and without dreams. I have become depressed.
Seeing the remains of my sister’s children is not easy, and losing my father in front of my eyes is not easy. We lived through the nights of heavy bombing, starvation and displacement. The intense sadness did not leave me for a single night. Tears were in my eyes every night. Not a single night passed without tears and longing for the past, my father, my sister and her children.
Every time I closed my eyes the tape of the war replayed before my eyes. The bombing, the missiles, the martyrs and the wounded, the blood, the tanks, the random shell, the remains of the victims, the scream of the children and the fear in their eyes.
On the morning of October 8, at 7.15, missiles rained down on our house in West Gaza-Al Nasr neighbourhood. Our house was bombed with three missiles from [F16] warplanes. I lost my sister, her husband and all four of her children. The rest of my family sustained moderate to critical injuries. [We then fled to our home in Northern Gaza.]
Only one week later, on October 15, our second house in North Gaza-Beit Lahia project, was bombed again with a severe belt of fire. I lost my father and two of my college colleagues.
After two months, my grandmother needed intensive medical care, as she suffers from chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
She sought refuge in Kamal Adwan Hospital, but the brutality of the occupation didn’t end. After [the Israeli Defence Forces] invaded the hospital, tanks surrounded it and drones fired bullets on anyone who tried to leave the hospital.
The occupation soldiers unleashed the police dogs on the wounded and the elderly. The dogs gnawed at her flesh and bones, and she was helpless. That led to blood poisoning and the loss of [her] life.
The massacres did not stop, our neighbours were displaced from Northern Gaza to the Maghazi camp, which the occupation had designated a safe area. The occupation committed a heinous massacre against them, so the man and his daughters lost their lives.
During a massacre that occurred in October, I lost 10 of my friends, and the rest of my friends are prisoners [or] missing. I have not heard any news about them to this day. The massacres and bombing have not ended to this day, so at any moment we can lose all our loved ones and friends.
Where are you now? Is it safe there?
I am now displaced from Northern Gaza, and I am in one of the displacement camps in Der al-Belah, the area that the occupation claims is a safe area. It is not safe. On August 16, the occupation issued orders to evacuate one of the displacement camps and the Eastern areas of Deir al-Balah and worked to narrow the humanitarian corridor.
What are the living conditions like where you are?
Nine out of 10 people in Gaza have been displaced at least once, and in some cases 10 times. A UN official said the latest estimates are that 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced multiple times and that almost all residents need assistance.
The situation in the displacement camps is extremely difficult. We lack basic needs and health. There is no health care or personal hygiene. Insects and rodents are everywhere. The heat and sun burn the tents and cause many to suffer from sunstroke, headaches and heat. There are 8000 cases of hepatitis and 700,000 people suffer from infectious diseases.
How do you access basic needs like food, water, electricity, internet, etc?
Obtaining these things is very difficult, due to increasing numbers of displaced people. The food is unhealthy and very polluted.
Due to the closure of the crossings and the occupation siege, the crisis is worsening, and the rate of famine is worsening in the north and south of Gaza. There are many international reports that have warned of the rate of famine. About 96% of the population of Gaza (2.1 million people) are facing highs levels of food insecurity.
As for water, the share for Palestinian individuals in the Gaza strip has decreased by 95.5% during the Israeli war.
Electricity was cut off from the second day of the war, so people relied on alternative sources such as solar energy, but the price of one panel is very expensive, costing up to $1000. Some people can [afford to] buy panels.
The internet is not available in all places due to the continuous Israeli bombing and the interruption and communications networks, so we rely on SIM cards.
What are your plans for the immediate future, to survive and escape the genocide?
Now, all I’m thinking about is trying to survive and escape from the genocide that’s happening in Gaza and trying to keep my family, but to escape is very expensive and costly. The cost of trying to cross the borders and cross into Egypt as a first stop is $5000, and there are needs such as food, drinks, housing, healthcare and medicine.
As your university was destroyed, do you think you will be able to attend another university outside of Palestine or will you have to work now?
After trying to cross the border and reach safety, I will enrol in an Egyptian university to complete my studies and achieve my and my father’s dreams. All the universities in the Gaza were destroyed and there are no places for education and work to meet my needs and personal and family expenses.
If you could address those responsible for the genocide, what would you say to them?
Stop lying and slandering. There are many innocent people dying from bombing and hunger. How can you kill people who are demanding their rights and their land, demanding to live in peace and freedom? Free Palestine.
How would you like to see the accelerated genocide end?
A comprehensive and final cessation of bombing and destruction, a return to our home in Northern Gaza, an end to the tragedy of the displaced, the return of the health sector, work and education, the reconstruction of the Gaza strip and the opening of the crossings.
[Tamer Shaaban’s supporters in Australia have established a GoFundMe page to raise funds to assist his extended family in Gaza to escape the genocide. To donate to help the people of Gaza, you can also visit Oxfam Australia, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.]