facility:al-bureij refugee camp

» Reports that 18 Palestinians, 4 Israelis Killed on Sunday
May 6, 2019 12:47 AM - IMEMC News
▻https://imemc.org/article/reports-that-18-palestinians-4-israelis-killed-on-sunday

Palestinian and Israeli media sources are reporting that up to 18 Palestinians and 4 Israelis have been killed on Sunday, as Israeli forces escalated their bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian resistance groups fired more rockets into Israel.
(...)
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Abdel Rahim Mustafa Taha Al-Madhoun and Hani Hamdan Abu Sha’ar , 37, were killed by Israeli missiles in the northern Gaza Strip.

Four civilians, including a pregnant woman and her two children, were killed in an overnight raid on the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. They were identified as: Abdullah Abdul Rahim Al Madhoun, 22, Fadi Ragheb Badran, 31, and Shahida Amani Al-Madhoun (33 years old), who was killed along with her unborn baby – she was nine months pregnant.

In addition to the three killed, eight others were reportedly injured in the Israeli airstrike, which targeted Al-Faraj Sheikh Zayed in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

Two Palestinian civilians were reportedly killed in the shelling of Rafah. They were identified as Musa Muammar, 24, and Ali Abdul Jawad, 51 years old . Three people were seriously injured in that same airstrike, which targeted a residential building in the city of Rafah.

The Israeli airforce reportedly targeted the home of the Director General of the Internal Security Forces in Gaza, Major General Tawfiq Abu Naim in Nuseirat central Gaza Strip.

Two apartments were destroyed in Tower No. 10 in the Sheikh Zayed Towers in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Health also announced that two citizens were martyred in a bombardment targeting agricultural land behind Ibrahim al-Maqadma Mosque in Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Two Palestinians were killed in that airstrike, they were identified as Mohammad Abdul Nabi Abu Armaneh, 30, and Mahmoud Samir Abu Armanah, 27.

Both were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir Al-Balah .

Israeli airstrikes destroyed the internal security building inside the governor’s palace west of Gaza City, following the destruction of another house belonging to the Mashtah family in central Gaza and a house belonging to the Abu Qamar family in al-Sina’a Street in Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the west of Gaza City. (...)

#Palestine_assassinée

23 Palestinians, Including Infant & 12-Year Old, Killed by Israeli Airstrikes
May 6, 2019 12:47 AM IMEMC News

Palestinians killed (confirmed) :
May 5, 2019

Maria Ahmad al-Ghazali, 4 months
Ahmad Ramadan al-Ghazali, 31 (Maria’s father)
Eman Abdullah Mousa Usrof al-Ghazali, 30 (Maria’s mother)
Abdul-Rahim Mustafa Taha al-Madhoun, 61
Abdul-Rahman Talal Atiyya Abu al-Jedian, 12
Eyad Abdullah al-Sharihi, 34
Mohammad Abdul Nabi Abu Armaneh, 30
Mahmoud Samir Abu Armanah, 27
Mousa Moammar, 24
Ali Ahmad Abdul-Jawad, 51
Hani Hamdan Abu Sha’ar, 37 (Rafah)
Abdullah Abdul Rahim al-Madhoun, 22
Fadi Ragheb Badran, 31
Amani al-Madhoun (Abu al-Omarein), 33/Ayman al-Madhoun(her fetus), northern Gaza
Abdullah Nofal Abu al-Ata, 21
Bilal Mohammad al-Banna, 23
Hamed al-Khodari, 34
Mahmoud Sobhi Issa, 26
Fawzi Abdul-Halim Bawadi, 24

On 51st Friday of Great March of Return and Breaking Siege: Israeli Forces Kill 2 Palestinian Civilians and Wound 181 Civilians, including 53 Children, 5 Women, 1 Paramedic, and 3 Journalists | Palestinian Center for Human Rights
March 22, 2019
▻https://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=12177

https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/197DE31A74B14A26B8C9AEDB652686FE.jpg

On Friday, 22 March 2019, In excessive use of forces against the peaceful protesters on the 51st Friday of the Great March of Return and Breaking Siege in the eastern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces killed 2 Palestinian civilians and wounded 181 others, including 53 Children, 5 Women, 1 Paramedic, and 3 Journalists. Three Injuries of those wounded were reported serious.
(...)
The Israeli shooting, which continued until at around 18:00, resulted the killing of 2 civilians:
Nedal ‘Abdel Karim Ahmed Shatat (29), from al-Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip, was wounded at approximately 17:20 with a bullet that entered the left side of his chest and exited the right side when he was among the protesters around 50 meters away from the border fence, east of al-Bureij refugee camp. At approximately 17:40, he arrived a dead body at Shuhaa’ al-Aqsa Hospital.

Jihad Munir Khaled Hararah (24), from al-Shija’iyah neighborhood in Gaza City, was wounded in eastern Shija’iyah and arrived at 16:50 at al-Shifaa’ Hospital, where his death was declared at 17:30.
(...)

#Palestine_assassinée #marcheduretour

’Israeli fire at Gaza border protests causing wounds not seen since 2014 war’

Some 1,700 wounded within month ■ Doctors say wounds ’devastating,’ most will result in disabilities ■ WHO: Lack of medical equipment endangering wounded

Amira Hass Apr 22, 2018

▻https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-gaza-doctors-injuries-in-border-protests-worst-since-2014-war-1.60

The live-fire wounds suffered by more than 1,700 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past month have been unusually severe, Palestinian and foreign doctors say.
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Since the series of demonstrations known as the March of Return began on March 30, Israeli soldiers have killed 37 Palestinians and wounded about 5,000, of whom 36 percent were wounded by live bullets.

Haaretz
Doctors at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital said they haven’t seen such severe wounds since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014. The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said its medical teams have given postoperative care to people “with devastating injuries of an unusual severity, which are extremely complex to treat. The injuries sustained by patients will leave most with serious, long-term physical disabilities.”
Since April 1, MSF has given postoperative care to 500 people with bullet wounds, mostly in the lower extremities. Most were young men, but some were women or children.
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“MSF medical teams note the injuries include an extreme level of destruction to bones and soft tissue, and large exit wounds that can be the size of a fist,” the group said in a report on April 19.
It quoted Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, MSF’s head of mission in Palestine, as saying, “Half of the more than 500 patients we have admitted in our clinics have injuries where the bullet has literally destroyed tissue after having pulverized the bone. These patients will need to have very complex surgical operations and most of them will have disabilities for life.”
The report concluded: “Apart from regular nursing care, patients will often need additional surgery, and undergo a very long process of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. A lot of patients will keep functional deficiencies for the rest of their life. Some patients may yet need amputation if not provided with sufficient care in Gaza and if they don’t manage to get the necessary authorization to be treated outside of the strip.”

The London-based group Medical Aid for Palestinians echoed MSF’s findings. It quoted a Shifa surgeon as saying, “The bullets used are causing injuries local medics say they have not seen since 2014. The entrance wound is small. The exit wound is devastating, causing gross comminution of bone and destruction of soft tissue.”
The group’s April 20 report also said that Gaza surgeons had performed 17 amputations – 13 legs and four arms. In addition, a boy shot by Israeli soldiers on April 17 had his left leg amputated in Ramallah. His parents said he was playing soccer near the Israel-Gaza border fence east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp.
Both aid groups repeatedly used the same word to describe the bullet wounds – “destruction.”
To cope with the flood of patients, both official and private medical institutions in Gaza have beefed up their presence near the demonstrations that are taking place along the Gaza-Israel border.
The Palestinian Health Ministry set up five field clinics near the protests in order to stabilize patients before they reach the hospital. Each clinic has three beds plus several mattresses, and is staffed by up to 10 doctors and 15 nurses, plus volunteers.
In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent has set up five emergency treatment stations. MSF has brought in surgical teams that work alongside Gazan teams at the Shifa and Al-Aqsa hospitals.
Yet the World Health Organization says the lack of medication and nonreusable medical supplies like bandages is undermining the ability to give patients proper care. The Palestinian Health Ministry urgently needs stocks of 75 essential drugs and 190 types of nonreusable medical supplies.
The WHO also criticized Israel for harming medical personnel, saying 48 medical staffers have been wounded by Israeli fire while trying to evacuate the wounded. At least three were hit live bullets. In addition, 13 ambulances were hit by live bullets or tear gas grenades.
Between March 30 and Thursday, 1,539 Gazans were wounded by live bullets and around 500 by sponge-tipped bullets, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Of the victims, 62.3 percent were hit in the lower body, 16 percent in the upper body, 8.2 percent in the head or neck, 4.8 percent in the stomach and four percent in the chest. In addition, 4.7 percent had multiple injuries.
On Friday, the ministry said 729 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli bullets or riot-control equipment, of whom 305 required hospital treatment. Of the latter, 156 were hit by live bullets.
Fifteen of the 305 hospitalized patients were women, it added, while 45 were children. Altogether, 500 minors have been wounded by Israeli fire since March 30.

Gazan boy paralyzed by Israeli army fire fights for compensation
Atiya Nabahin was shot in the neck by soldiers as he returned home from school. Now he awaits a ruling for compensation.
By Amira Hass | Nov. 26, 2016 | 11:58 AM
▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.755216

A 17-year-old Palestinian who became a quadriplegic after being wounded by IDF fire is posing the first challenge to the Law to Bypass the High Court that was passed by the Knesset four years ago. If the Be’er Sheva District Court accepts the state’s position that his suit for damages should be rejected, his lawyer will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Then the justices will have to address for the first time the legality of the amendment to the Civil Damages Law that the Knesset passed in 2012, seven years after they nullified a similar amendment to the same law.

Atiya Nabahin’s family lived east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp on farmland it has owned and worked for decades, close to the Green Line. On November 16, 2014, his birthday, Nabahin was shot in the neck by soldiers as he returned home from school. No armed clash was occurring at that time and place between Palestinians and the IDF.

For six months, Nabahin received medical treatment in Israel (paid for by the Palestinian Authority), after it was determined that he had been permanently paralyzed from the neck down. His father Fathi, 59, stayed with him throughout that time, and was taught at ALYN Hospital about how to care for his son, who is now completely dependent on his family members. The family cannot afford to hire outside help. It must shoulder the emotional, physical and financial burden of Atiya’s care alone.

When Atiya Nabahin and his father were in Soroka Hospital in early 2015, the Gazan human rights organization Mizan put them in touch with lawyer Mohammed Jabarin, who later filed the civil suit against the state. Ofer Shoval, deputy Tel Aviv district attorney, sought to have the claim rejected because Nabahin “is a resident of an area outside of Israel that the government has officially declared to be enemy territory,” and because “the law explicitly states that the state is not responsible for damages in these circumstances.”

A month ago, Jabarin and attorney Nadeem Shehadeh from Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel co-wrote a response to Shoval, saying that the law upon which the state is seeking to have the suit dismissed amounts to a direct challenge to the Supreme Court’s authority.

Since the late 1990s, and more so after the outbreak of the second intifada, successive Israeli governments have tried to limit Palestinians’ ability to sue the state when they are hurt by IDF actions. In 2002, an amendment to the Civil Damages Law was enacted, which introduced many hurdles in the process for Palestinians wishing to sue for damages. In 2005, another amendment (7) was passed, which denied residents of the occupied territories, “subjects of enemy states and active members of terrorist organizations” the right to sue for damages caused them outside the framework of combat operations (with minor exceptions). The amendment also stipulated that “the state is not response for damages caused in the conflict zone due to actions by the security forces” and authorized the defense minister to determine, even retroactively, what qualifies as a “conflict zone.”

Challenges from human rights NGOs

Nine Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations petitioned against the amendment and in December 2006 a nine-justice panel of the High Court, headed by then-court President Aharon Barak, ruled that the clause in question granted sweeping immunity to the state, “with the improper aim of exempting the state from all responsibility for damages in conflict zones … in relation to wide categories of actions that are not combat actions even in the broadest definition of that term. What this means is that many injured persons who were not involved in any hostile activity, and who were not hurt incidentally during actions by security forces meant to address any sort of hostile activity, are left without remedy for the harm to their life and their property.”

The judges ruled that the key clause of the amendment (No. 7, Section 5c), which included the definition of conflict zones, shall be nullified because it violated the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. However, the court did not strike down Section 5b, regarding the identity of the casualties, but it did say that this section could be discussed in specific cases.

Immediately after the ruling was handed down, the government began working to have the amendment restored, indirectly. Amendment 8 was passed in 2012, and this time there was no High Court petition, even though it was even more sweeping than Amendment 7. In the new amendment, the definition of military activity as “being done in circumstances of mortal or physical danger” was expanded to “actions of a combat nature, considering the entirety of the circumstances, including the objective of the operation, its geographical location and the threat to the force carrying it out.” In other words, the state needn’t make the claim that soldiers were in any danger in order to justify its request to reject a suit for damages.

Additionally, to evade the definition of a “conflict zone” that was nullified by the High Court’s order, Amendment 8 added the following words to the part concerning the identity of the injured party who is not authorized to sue (the subject of an enemy country, etc.): “or one who is not an Israeli citizen, who is resident of an area outside of Israel that the government has declared, by order, as enemy territory.” In other words: Instead of a “conflict zone,” the new amendment refers to “enemy territory.”

In October 2014, the government issued an order declaring Gaza enemy territory. The order was applied retroactively, beginning July 7, 2014 (just before the start of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza).

Nabahin’s lawyers believe his severe injury falls exactly in that place where the High Court justices, in their 2006 ruling, sought to prevent the state from being able to evade responsibility: the seemingly unjustified injuring by soldiers, the state’s emissaries, of a person who was not involved in any hostilities and at a time and place where no hostile activity was occurring. In their letter, Jabarin and Shehadeh wrote:

“The state is effectively being given total immunity, meaning it is exempt from responsibility for damages in relation to many areas of activity that do not qualify as combat activity, even in the broad and inherently problematic definition, given to this concept in the law. Thus many victims find themselves without recourse. … In this way [the state] is not trying to adapt the laws on damages to a war situation, but rather to deny the applicability of these laws to many actions that are not combat-related…”

The attorneys – and their permanently paralyzed client – are now waiting for the state’s response to their objection.

#Amira_Hass

Gaza: un Palestinien tué dans des heurts avec des soldats israéliens
AFP / 09 septembre 2016 19h54
▻http://www.romandie.com/news/Gaza-un-Palestinien-tue-dans-des-heurts-avec-des-soldats-israeliens/735308.rom

Gaza (Territoires palestiniens) - Un jeune Palestinien a été tué vendredi dans des heurts avec des soldats israéliens près de la barrière de sécurité israélienne qui longe la bande de Gaza, a indiqué le porte-parole du ministère de la Santé palestinien.

Abdel Rahman Dabbagh , âgé de 16 ans, a été tué d’une balle réelle dans la tête, a précisé le porte-parole du ministère de la Santé Achraf al-Qodra.

Selon des témoins sur place, le jeune homme lançait, avec des dizaines d’autres Palestiniens, des pierres sur les soldats israéliens de l’autre côté de la barrière.

L’incident s’est produit à l’est du camp de réfugiés d’Al-Bureij, dans le centre de l’enclave palestinienne, a précisé M. Qodra.

Des dizaines de Palestiniens manifestent tous les vendredis près de la barrière de sécurité avec Israël. Les manifestations dégénèrent parfois en affrontements avec les soldats israéliens postés de l’autre côté.

Jérusalem, les Territoires palestiniens et Israël sont en proie à des tensions qui se sont atténuées récemment, mais qui ont coûté la vie à 224 Palestiniens, 34 Israéliens, deux Américains, un Erythréen et un Soudanais depuis le 1er octobre 2015, selon un décompte de l’AFP.

La plupart des Palestiniens tués sont des auteurs ou auteurs présumés d’attaques. D’autres ont été tués dans des heurts avec des soldats israéliens en Cisjordanie et le long de la barrière qui entoure la bande de Gaza.

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Israeli forces kill 18-year-old Palestinian in Gaza after shooting him in head during protests
Sept. 9, 2016 8:04 P.M. (Updated: Sept. 9, 2016 10:14 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773079

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An 18-year-old Palestinian in Gaza was killed by Israeli forces on Friday after a soldier shot the youth in the head during protests east of al-Bureij refugee camp near the border between the besieged enclave and Israel.

Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra identified the youth as Abd al-Rahman Ahmad al-Dabbagh and confirmed the 18-year-old had been shot in the head. He was rushed to the Al-Aqsa hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, another Palestinian was injured with live fire during clashes near Nahal Oz east of al-Shujaiyya in the Gaza Strip.

Witnesses told Ma’an that dozens of youths had gathered in several areas near the border with Israel, as clashes erupted with Israeli forces who opened live fire at the protestors.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that a “violent riot erupted” near the border with Gaza, as “dozens of rioters breached the buffer zone” — a unilaterally declared area in Gaza’s territory near the separation barrier. According to the spokesperson “in an attempt to prevent an escalation of violence,” Israeli forces used tear gas in order to disperse the “riot.”

However, the spokesperson denied that Israeli forces had used live fire on the protestors, saying that although the Israeli army had heard reports of an 18-year-old being shot in the head, it was “not caused by the (Israeli army).”

#Palestine_assassinée

Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Gaza demo for 3rd Friday in a row
Dec. 25, 2015 5:06 P.M. (Updated: Dec. 26, 2015 12:26 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769513

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian and injured several others during demonstrations in the Gaza Strip for the third Friday in a row, the Ministry of Health said.

Hani Rafiq Wahdan , 22, was shot in the head near the al-Shujayyia neighborhood east of Gaza City, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, told Ma’an. Nine others were hit by live fire.

Clashes broke out between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip, with four injured east al-Bureij refugee camp, including one shot with live fire in the chest, al-Qidra said.

Six others were shot in the al-Faraheen area east of Khan Younis, and one Palestinian was shot near the Erez crossing, al-Qidra added.

#Palestine_assassinée

Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Gaza border clashes
Dec. 11, 2015 4:41 P.M. (Updated: Dec. 11, 2015 4:58 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769300

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli military forces on Friday shot dead a Palestinian and injured 17 others in clashes east of al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, identified the victim as Sami Shawqi Madhi , 41. He was shot in the chest and died instantly, al-Qidra added.

Ten other Palestinians were injured during the clashes and taken to hospital for treatment.

Israeli forces opened fire at demonstrators along the border east of al-Bureij refugee camp and at the Nahal Oz crossing, where protesters set fire to tires.

Locals said Israeli snipers were deployed in the area.

There were also reports of clashes near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and the Erez crossing in the north, where seven were injured by live fire in their lower extremities, al-Qidra said.

#Palestine_assassinée

Palestinian killed after alleged car attack in Gush Etzion
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768374
Oct. 20, 2015 4:10 P.M. (Updated : Oct. 20, 2015 6:06 P.M.)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian man was shot and killed after allegedly ramming his car into a group of Israelis in the illegal Gush Etzion settlement bloc on Tuesday, injuring two Israelis, Israeli police said.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said there had been a “terrorist attack” near the Gush Etzion junction and the area was closed off after Israeli security and police arrived on the scene.

A spokesperson at the Hadassah hospital confirmed two injured Israelis were being brought for treatment, but she was unable to confirm their condition.

The Palestinian suspect was shot and killed. He was identified as Hamzeh Moussa al-Imla , 25, from Beit Ula north of Hebron.

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1 Palestinian killed, 14 injured in Gaza border clashes
Oct. 20, 2015 6:05 P.M. (Updated : Oct. 20, 2015 7:02 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768380

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian, and injured nine others with live fire on Tuesday during clashes on the border of the northern and central Gaza Strip, a medical official said.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said Ahmad al-Sarhi , 27, was shot dead east of the al-Bureij refugee camp. Six others were injured with live fire.

In northern Gaza, eight Palestinians were injured near the Erez crossing. Three Palestinians were shot and injured with live fire and five others suffered injuries from tear gas, at least one of which was hit with a tear gas canister.

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Un Palestinien tué par des tirs israéliens à la frontière avec Gaza
AFP – 20 octobre 2015

Un Palestinien a été tué mardi par des tirs israéliens dans la bande Gaza à la frontière avec Israël, ont indiqué les services de secours palestiniens.

Ahmed al-Serhi, 27 ans, a été tué par balles durant des affrontements avec des soldats israéliens dans l’est de l’enclave palestinienne près de la barrière frontalière qui enferme la bande de Gaza, selon les services de secours. Les heurts ont en outre fait cinq blessés.

Environ 200 jeunes, garçons et filles, ont jeté des pierres en direction des soldats israéliens, postés de l’autre côté de la barrière, selon un journaliste de l’AFP sur place.

Les soldats ont riposté par des tirs de grenades lacrymogènes puis des balles en caoutchouc avant de tirer à balles réelles sur les manifestants afin de les disperser.

L’armée israélienne a de son côté affirmé dans un communiqué que des soldats avaient « tiré vers des terroristes préparant une attaque dans le sud de la bande de Gaza contre les forces israéliennes ».

Palestinian shot, killed by Israeli forces in northern Gaza
Oct. 16, 2015 4:25 P.M. (Updated: Oct. 16, 2015 4:54 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768285

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRdfZoQWEAA85gz.jpg

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Palestinian was killed and 27 others injured as Israeli forces opened fire at demonstrators in the Gaza Strip on Friday, medical sources said.

Ashraf al-Qidra, Gaza’s Ministry of Health spokesperson said that Yahiya Abd al-Qader Farhat, 24, was killed after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza.

He was taken to the al-Awda hospital in Jabalia, where he was pronounced dead. Farhat was from the Gaza neighborhood of al-Shujaiyya.

At least 11 Palestinians were shot with live fire and 14 suffered tear gas inhalation during the demonstrations, al-Qidra added.

Clashes also broke out east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, with Israeli forces firing tear gas at demonstrators, who set fire to tires.

Demonstrations were reported near the Erez and Nahal Oz crossings in the northern Gaza Strip, as thousands of Palestinians marched following a call by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

A year on, Gazans have no more tears to cry -
Death has simply become part of ‘normal’ daily calculations in the Gaza Strip, where the traumatic effect of last summer’s war is impossible to escape.
By Amira Hass | Jul. 25, 2015 - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.667783

Nawaf is one of the lucky Gazans who works for an international organization. Last week, he received a permit to travel to East Jerusalem for a few days. We met by chance, and I immediately noticed his eyes. They resembled the eyes of every other Gazan I’ve met over the last year. The phrase “extinguished eyes” might have been invented just for them.

Hassan Ziadah, a psychologist who works at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, is very familiar with this look. The pain and fear are so great that people can no longer cry, he said; all the tears have dried up.

Few people can leave Gaza, and few can enter. Thus, for the most part, only foreigners – NGO workers, diplomats and journalists – can see with their own eyes how Gaza residents are coping with the burden of loss and destruction from last summer’s war. Everyone else, including journalists from Israel and the West Bank, needs intermediaries.

Thanks to Al Jazeera in English, we learned about a local initiative in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood to bring a little cheer to people’s hearts by painting the houses’ gray concrete walls in bright colors and filling corners with plants. Tamer, a Palestinian NGO for the promotion of education, donated the brushes and paint, and other neighborhoods plan to follow Zeitoun’s lead.

Ziadah welcomed the project: It fosters cooperation and helps people overcome the passivity caused by shock and loss, he says. But this is only a small part of the picture.

A Palestinian journalist from a Western country who was permitted to enter Gaza was shocked to discover how death has become part of “normal” daily calculations. Someone told him a certain school had rearranged its classes, because in one class “12 students were killed” in last summer’s war. Death is the constant; the variable is the rearrangement of the classes. Ziadah said there has been an upsurge in the number of people considering death as a way out.

Another Western journalist described children filled with admiration for the members of Hamas’ military wing, who marched in honor of the war’s one-year anniversary. He was stunned by the similarity between Hamas’ army and the Israel Defense Forces, and terrified that the marchers’ weapons would accidentally go off in the midst of the crowd.

Parents say children wet their beds and have nightmares in which they stand paralyzed while a wild animal attacks them. At least some of those who flocked to the parade presumably suffer from similar fears.

“The children feel angry; they want revenge. So they’re attracted to the power embodied in the military parade,” Ziadah said.

Nawaf, 45, decided to use his brief respite from Gaza to visit a psychologist. He doesn’t believe a psychologist in Gaza could really help him, since “they suffer from the same trauma as the rest of us.”

Ziadah knows exactly what Nawaf means. He himself lost his mother, three brothers, a sister-in-law and nephew when an Israeli bomb hit his family’s home in the Al-Bureij refugee camp.

During the war, the IDF bombed dozens of houses whose residents were still inside. In 70 cases documented by B’Tselem, 606 people were killed – about a quarter of all Palestinian fatalities. They included 93 children under 5; 129 children aged 5-14; 42 teens aged 14-18; 135 women; and 37 people aged over 60.

On July 20, 2014, the day the Ziadah house was bombed, the IDF bombed six other houses, killed 76 people – including 41 children and 23 women. But Ziadah’s family got special attention because his sister-in-law’s great-uncle, Henk Zanoli, responded by returning the Righteous Among the Nations medal he received for saving a Jewish child during the Holocaust.

Ziadah, a senior psychologist, sometimes needs help from his colleagues at the mental health clinic to overcome his own pain and continue treating his many patients. But he also thinks his personal bereavement enables him to better understand his patients – and people who aren’t his patients, too.

Some direct their fear and anger inwards, resulting in depression, chronic pain and dependency on antidepression medication. R., a field researcher for a human rights organization, noted a new development: Now, even women are becoming addicted to mood-improving drugs, not just men.

And of course, said Ziadah, there are always those who direct their anger outward.

Those who lost neither their relatives nor their houses consider themselves the lucky ones. Consequently, they treat their own fear and depression as “luxuries” and view seeking treatment as “self-indulgence.” But there’s no way to keep the war from intruding into the present.

“In general, people try to forget,” said H., a doctor working for UNRWA. “But for those who directly lost someone or something, everything reminds them of it. My friend’s brothers were killed, and during the [Id al-Fitr] holiday, she refused to leave her room. That’s the day when, traditionally, men visit their female relatives and bless them.”

Last year, Ramadan overlapped with the war. As a result, this Ramadan brought back memories and many people even feared another war would erupt, R. said.

“Wherever you go, you see the ruins – all kinds of buildings left with strange shapes after the bombing that haven’t yet been removed,” he said. “Your eyes don’t have a moment of rest from the memory.” Or, as Ziadah put it, people have no chance to engage in the therapeutic activity of avoidance.

Moreover, shots are heard every day, and drones buzz overhead for days on end. These sounds, the ruins and the uncertainty are reminders that “there’s a real threat to life,” Ziadah said.

“In a state of worry and fear like this, a person needs a mechanism that will help him overcome and bear this overwhelming suffering all the time,” he added. “There’s religion, a central element of our culture, which has the important element of belief in fate – that this was ‘written for us.’ There’s praying to God to save us and make things easier for us.”

One foreign journalist said that in mosques, Hamas members order people not to be sad about their dead. H., the doctor, sees the familial and societal solidarity among Gaza residents. But R. sees the “75 percent,” in his estimation, who want to leave the Strip because there’s no future there.

“I work from morning ’till night in order to forget and not think about the situation, about myself,” he said. “But what about those who have no work? The families with unemployed adults go to the sea and lie about on the beach with nothing to do all day.”

Nevertheless, like Ziadah, R. is convinced people continue to live, and ostensibly even to adjust – because there’s simply no other choice.

Over 50 Palestinians killed as Israeli assault continues | Maan News Agency
▻http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=715438

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — At least 50 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Tuesday as Israel’s military assault entered its 15th day, bringing the total death toll to over 600 people since July 8.

Mustafa mohammed Fayyad, 24 , Nour al-Islam Raed Abu Huwashel, 12, and an unidentified man were killed in northern Gaza on Tuesday evening.

Before that, Ahmad Issam Wishah, 29 , Ahmad Kamil Abu Mgheiseb, 35, Raed Abdul Rahman Abu Mgheiseb, 35, and Ahmad Mohammad Ramadan, 30, were killed in central Gaza.

Khalaf Atiyeh Abu Sneima, 18, and Khalil Atiyeh Abu Sneima, 20 , were killed in eastern Rafah while Mohammad Jalal al-Jarf, 24, was killed in Khan Younis.

Earlier, four members of the same family were killed in Gaza City. They were identified as Muhammad Shehadeh Hajjaj, 31, Fayzeh Saleh Hajjaj, 66, Rawan Ziad Hajjaj, 15, and Yousef Muhammed Hajjaj, 28 .

Two elderly women were killed in Rafah, southern Gaza. Medics identified them as Hakema Nafe Abu Odwan, 75, and Najah Nafe Abu Odwan, 85 .

Four Palestinians were killed in al-Bureij refugee camp and Hasan Shabaan Khamase, 28, was killed in al-Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

Ahmed Asad al-Badde , 24, was killed in Beit Lahiya and the bodies of Tarek Fayek Hajjaj, 22, and Ahmed Ziad Hajjaj, 21, and Mosaab Nafeth Ejla, 30 , were pulled from rubble in the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood, which suffered heavy bombing on Sunday.

Earlier, the bodies of 65-year-old Muhammad Khalil Ahel and Hamada Eleiwa were found in the Gaza City neighborhoods of Shajaiyeh and Zaytoun.

Another man was killed in an airstrike on Beit Lahiya, while three people died in shelling on the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said 22-year-old Mahmoud Salim Mustafa Daraj succumbed to his wounds in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

At least four Palestinians were killed in Gaza City
overnight, Muna Rami , four, was killed in northern Gaza, and over a dozen civilians were killed in shelling on Rafah, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City.(...)