The Electronic Intifada 24 July 2024
Rana Khaled recently had to rescue two of her children. (Abdallah al-Naami)
Simple words have lost their meaning amid the current genocidal war.
“Safe” is one such word. In Gaza, a zone designated as “safe” by Israel is not safe from bombs, disease, summer heat or even sea waves.
Rana Khaled is a mother of five.
In the early stages of the war, she and her family were displaced from northern Gaza. They moved to several places over the past nine months before setting up a tent on the beach in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah.
A few weeks ago, Rana was preparing breakfast for her children when suddenly a large wave crashed into the tent.
Rana heard her children screaming. They were crying for help.
The waves had pulled them from the tent and into the sea.
“I was terrified,” Rana said.
“I made my way through the waves as quickly as I could until I reached my youngest son, who was starting to drown,” she added. “Our neighbors helped me to save my other son.”
One of Rana’s sons – aged 2 – was barely breathing.
“He had swallowed a large amount of salty seawater,” she said. “He needed to drink some fresh water but we did not have any.”
Rana had to carry him away from the beach and go searching for water that was fit to drink.
She had hoped that being beside the sea would offer some respite amid the ongoing genocide. “But that was not the case,” she said.
Three of Khitam Kuhail’s five children were killed in an Israeli attack that destroyed their Gaza City home. Another one of her children remains unaccounted for.
Following the attack, Khitam fled Gaza City with her surviving son, who has a disability.
First they went to Maghazi refugee camp in the Middle Area. When Israel invaded Maghazi, they fled to Nuseirat, another refugee camp, later leaving it for Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city.
Khitam hoped that Rafah would be their final destination during this war. But Israel’s invasion of the city in May uprooted her once more.
After an arduous journey, she arrived in Deir al-Balah. The city was so crowded that she had to set up a tent on a sidewalk.
Khitam Kuhail in her Deir al-Balah tent. (Abdallah al-Naami)
Khitam has a heart condition and other chronic medical issues. She has previously lost an eye.
“All I want is to protect my son and take care of him,” she said, adding that “it gets harder and harder every time” she has been displaced.
Khitam has to queue for water on a daily basis. She has to wait for hours before she can fill up a container.
At nighttime, rodents, mosquitoes and other insects “spread from sewage swamps in the area into the streets and tents,” she said.
“Not only are they annoying and scary, they can transmit dangerous diseases,” she added. “I can’t even leave the tent at night to go to the bathroom because I’m afraid of the stray dogs roaming the streets.”
A summer of suffering
Shaaban al-Qayed and his family had to evacuate their Gaza City home in the early stages of the war. The home has been destroyed, causing huge stress for Shaaban.
He has also required a leg amputation – after a blood clot – during the war.
Like so many others, the family had relocated to Rafah and then were uprooted by Israel’s invasion of that city.
The amputation which Shaaban had undergone made his displacement from Rafah extremely difficult.
Shaaban said “we were shocked to learn” that arranging transportation from Rafah to Deir al-Balah would cost almost $150. “We have not had any income since the beginning of this war,” he added.
The family managed to scrape together enough money for the journey. In Deir al-Balah, they had to set up a makeshift tent on a sidewalk.
Shaaban al-Qayed beside his makeshift tent. (Abdallah al-Naami)
Ameen al-Qayed –Shaaban’s cousin – and his family also live in a tent on a Deir al-Balah sidewalk.
It has been a summer of relentless suffering.
“Our tent does not provide us with any kind of protection from the heat,” Ameen said. “I feel as if I am living inside an oven.”
Ameen has chronic health issues and has fainted a number of times both inside the tent and on the street. His son experienced a heat stroke recently.
“We do not have enough water to drink and shower,” Ameen said. “We desperately need water in this hot weather.”
Abdallah al-Naami is a journalist and photographer living in Gaza.
