Israel-Hamas war: Despair prevails in Gaza, where 'absolute destruction' is rampant
Taking advantage of the four-day suspension of bombardments, inhabitants of the Palestinian enclave emerged on to their streets, lined with ruined buildings and decomposing corpses.
At dawn on Friday November 24, when the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip came to a halt after 49 days of bombardment, and the drone of the drones in the sky fell silent, tens of thousands of displaced persons in the south of the enclave took to the roads of the center and north of the territory. For some, it was a question of returning to their neighborhoods to check on those who had been unable or unwilling to flee, the state of their homes or to try and find their belongings among the ruins. For others, it was a question of burying their loved ones.
"It's a relief. There's absolute calm in the streets, there's no more sound of bombing," testified Rafah Ali (he gave only his first name), an ambulance driver from Gaza City who has been displaced twice in the south since the start of the war, triggered on October 7 by the Hamas attack on the Jewish state. "It's like a return to life, but we're afraid it'll start again in four days [the duration of the truce so far negotiated]. It's a mixture of joy and sadness, as many people are looking first and foremost to recover the bodies of their loved ones for burial."
Their journey was once again perilous. Shortly before the truce came into effect, Israeli aircraft were dropping leaflets reminding that "the war is not over." "A return to the north is forbidden and very dangerous. Your safety and that of your families is in your hands." Around midday, at least two people had been killed and a number wounded by gunfire from Israeli positions in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood. These two new deaths add to the 14,854 people, including 6,150 children, who have perished under Israeli bombardment, according to the Palestinian enclave's Ministry of Health.
Bodies on the outskirts of hospitals
In Khan Yunis, in the south of the country, journalist Ayman Algedi was also appalled to see the desolation of part of the city: "It's a level of absolute destruction. We've been through four, five wars, but we've never seen so much destruction." In the images he filmed, shattered dwellings followed by smashed-up streets. One small consolation: A trickle of water was spotted escaping from a pipe leading out of a collapsed building. "We're so thirsty," he said, drinking with relief.
"I walked around Gaza City shortly after the truce began. The destruction is total. Houses, buildings, mosques, public gardens, schools, water pipes, electricity poles," wrote author Refaat Alareer. "I tried to reach the Al-Rantissi hospital, but there were two tanks. Surprisingly, there are no Israeli invaders at Al-Shifa Hospital. The tanks didn't stop shooting at people near Al-Rantissi and in Tal Al-Hawa. In Tal Al-Hawa, there are snipers near the Barcelona garden. They shot at someone approaching his house," he described.
On the coastal road running north-south, used by those who have fled the neighborhoods besieged by the Israeli army, many decomposing bodies can be seen. "We're asking ambulances to come and collect them. We have to leave this place, it's too dangerous," exclaimed a young man filming them.
Gaza's hospitals, 24 out of 32 of which have ceased to function, bear the scars of 49 days of strikes. The windows of Al-Awda hospital have shattered; the third and fourth floors, where three nurses, including two members of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), died on November 21, have been reduced to rubble. The facade of the Indonesian hospital was ripped open, and bodies lay under blankets as onlookers lifted them to recognize a face. Identical scenes were witnessed at Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest in the Gaza Strip before its partial evacuation on November 18.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it had no information on the fate of the facility's director, who was arrested on November 22, along with five other medical staff, while taking part in a UN mission to evacuate patients. The operation lasted 20 hours, "including six hours at a checkpoint where the team and patients were controlled by the Israeli Defense Forces. This was despite an initial agreement to check participants only at the point of departure, at the Al-Shifa Hospital," added the WHO, adding that the arrests took place at this point.
200 truckloads of aid
Israel had announced on Thursday the arrest of Mohammad Abu Salmiya, as well as that of a hospital department head. "We are questioning him [Abu Salmiya] about the fact that he was the director of a hospital that was above an entire terrorist network," said Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman on Saturday. Israel had accused the establishment of housing a Hamas command center, which Abu Salmiya had repeatedly denied.
According to Mustafa Barghouti, an independent doctor and member of parliament and a leading figure in Palestinian civil society, who heads an association of dozens of his colleagues in Gaza, the Israeli army withdrew from Al-Shifa Hospital after destroying the electrical generators, oxygen generators, X-ray and medical imaging equipment.
The truce should allow more aid convoys to enter the small, overpopulated territory where, according to the UN, 1.7 million of Gaza's 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced by the war. On Friday, 200 truckloads of aid entered Gaza, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. At the end of the four-day truce, Israel pledged to "continue" the fighting against Hamas. "Taking control of the northern Gaza Strip is the first stage of a long war, and we are preparing for the next phases," said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.