Already in disrepair and despair, Gaza's region has been devastated and after 11 days of fierce violence between Hamas and Israel in May. The people of Gaza, an open prison, are engaged in a difficult struggle to regain their lives.
There is an urgent need to rebuild schools, roads, residential buildings and infrastructure destroyed in Israel's air raids, but social activists say Gaza must also urgently pay attention to the mental health of its two million residents as they are badly hurt. are feeling. Tamara Alrifai, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, the UN relief agency that works for Palestinian refugees, believes that the mental tension among the people of Gaza is at its peak.
Tahir Almadoon, 28, is a doctor at a Gaza hospital. In fact, they truly represent the sufferings of the people of Gaza, be it mental or physical. He was put to death on May 13 during Israel's air strikes on Gaza. The first rocket attack destroyed a part of his house. In a long conversation with the BBC, Tahir says, "Thursday, May 13, it was a normal day. It was dark, before the attack we were sitting and talking – my father, my aunt and I", we Were preparing to celebrate Eid."
But within a few minutes, rockets started raining on his building. Recalling that attack, Tahir says, "My whole body was under the rubble except my hand, so I used my phone to make noise so that they could see my location and find me." Tahir was rescued by fire brigade personnel but his father and aunt could not be saved. "I never lost consciousness during the attack, I heard my father and aunt pray, before the firefighters came to rescue me, I heard them pray for a few minutes, then they fell silent, so I knew that they are dead."
One moment they were alive, talking about celebrating Eid, the next moment two of them passed away and the third one was thrown out of the mouth. This is the life of Gaza. Fortunately, Dr. Tahir's mother and other siblings were not at home, they had gone out for Eid shopping. His three-storey house has been completely destroyed. Dr. Tahir could not attend the last rites of his father and aunt as he spent the next two weeks in the ICU, suffering from multiple broken ribs and severe lung injury, now awaiting a surgery. But he says his suffering goes beyond physical injuries and property damage, "In the early days, my father and aunt, me, mother and brothers, sisters regularly had nightmares and our psychological stress increased.
The young doctor wants to help his family, even though he has little time to think over his broken bones, saying he feels the burden of new family responsibilities after his father's death and wants things to happen. Get well soon, but they believe that nothing is going to get better quickly. He says, "It may take a year or two for me to get back to my job. I can get a place to live but it may take a year or two to recover from my physical, mental injuries and feel normal." Before the personal tragedy, Doctor Tahir was busy preparing for his marriage. His father had built a three-storey house for the family in a better area of Gaza. Doctor Tahir had decorated his house on the third floor.
It is very difficult to lead a normal life in Gaza, whether there is war or peace. Social activist Noel Aquil, speaking to BBC Hindi from Gaza, spoke of his problems in these words, "If you look at me and my family, I am a woman who is known for her mother, six sisters, son, divorced sister, Algeria. And the brothers studying in Jordan are concerned. We yearn for a normal life. We want to live our lives."
Noel's colleague Tamer Ajrami, who also works among the victims, says, "The trauma that Palestinians have suffered has not only come from this attack, it has been going on for years, people have suffered from pre-existing trauma. But has suffered another blow." Now that a delicate ceasefire is in force in Gaza, images of death and destruction are emerging. Tahir's father and his aunt were among 243 Gazas killed in Israeli airstrikes. 12 Israeli civilians were also killed in Hamas missile attacks. More than two thousand buildings in Gaza have either been completely destroyed or partially damaged.
Social workers say that destroyed homes can be rebuilt, but it is more difficult to restore the victims' families and their mental condition. Saeed Al-Mansour is a simple IT professional in Gaza. He owned a small flat before the fight, but since its destruction in an Israeli attack on May 16, he has been living with his family at his wife's house, which is seen as a disgrace in Arab society. Gaza residents were warned by Israel before the attack, so Saeed, like others, managed to remove all valuables and documents he could collect in such a short time.
His apartment became a pile of ashes after the attack before his eyes. Sayeed says the missile attack lasted barely a few seconds, in an instant our apartment became a pile of rubble, but the trauma, the mental stress we are going through now, is hard to bear. He says, "In our society it is the responsibility of the men to arrange everything for the family. I have to arrange food and shelter for my family myself. But today I am dependent on my wife's family for that, I am very ashamed. Every day is like living in hell. When you go out you see rows of destroyed buildings, it looks like a haunted city."
Doctor Tahir tells that his father was an importer of coffee beans in Gaza, he wanted all his children to become doctors and his dream came true before he died. Tahir's three sisters are doctors and his two younger brothers are studying medicine. His father built a three-storey kothi for his children. They did not live to see what condition their children were in now.
Many Gaza residents say they feel like they are living in an open prison. One of the main reasons for this is the ongoing Israeli blockade for some years. Gaza is a small, narrow strip of land located between Israel and Egypt. Gaza is ruled by the political unit of Hamas. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the US, the West Bank is ruled by an authority led by President Mahbub Abbas, which Israel recognizes as the legitimate government.
Wars often take place between armed Hamas fighters living in Gaza and the Israeli armed forces. The first deadly conflict occurred in 2006, then in 2007, the deadliest Israeli airstrikes were in 2014, which lasted 51 days, the May attacks lasted 11 days. As Tamara Alrifai of the United Nations put it, "It is worth remembering that this is the fourth war in less than 15 years, this is too great a torture for a small region to endure. Gaza is a place that is one of a kind. It is under a strict blockade so its economy is in shambles, and Gaza, like the rest of the world, is suffering the effects of the pandemic. There are many things that are adding to Gaza's hardships."
Every conflict with Israel weakened it more, it caused more loss of life and property. Many people like Dr Tahir have lost their homes completely. The latest attack has left thousands of families homeless, a new experience for many of them. Many of the thousands of people whose homes were destroyed in the prolonged attacks in 2014 are still waiting for help.
In addition to residential houses in Gaza, many commercial buildings have also been destroyed. These buildings housed the offices of several non-governmental organizations and international agencies, several videos of the attacks went viral, one of which was the Israeli attack on the famous 14-story Al-Shoroq Tower in the middle of the commercial area, the footage of which was quite scary.
On two different floors of this building are the offices of Noal Aqil and his partner Tamir Ajrami. Both these workers, who work in a non-governmental organization named Basma Society for Culture and Arts, can no longer work from their offices. Basma is a non-governmental organization that runs theater programs and other cultural activities to empower youth in Gaza. The attack on commercial areas came as a surprise to the people of Gaza. Tamer Ajrami says, "We didn't think that would happen, because everyone thought it was a safe area because there are offices of many NGOs and then the most famous in the neighborhood is the Al-Shifa Hospital."
Noel and Tamer said the warning time was short so there was no point in going back to the 13th floor, where their office was located, which kept all the office documents. "In minutes, the missiles destroyed the tall building. We lost all the documents, years of archive material and other things, we lost everything," say Noal Aqil and Tamer Ajrami.
However, for now that the sounds of rockets and bombs have stopped in Gaza and the ceasefire is somehow in progress, it is time to take stock of the casualties and damages caused to Gaza and plan for reconstruction and rehabilitation. It is time to heal the wounds of the suffering citizens of Gaza.
Many institutions and agencies are taking responsibility for the rehabilitation of Gaza. Egypt is also helping in this. UNRWA is ahead of all this. It has set three priorities, as explained by its spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai, "We are looking at three priorities: first, we are making sure that all those who have been rendered homeless in the war have a home, which means that UNRWA Will help in rebuilding the homes of people or rehabilitate those whose houses have been damaged.
"Our second priority is to deal with the mental impact of the war on the people, my colleagues in Gaza are considering the current situation as a huge psychological crisis, it seems that everyone in Gaza is suffering mentally. Our third priority is that we Rebuild your facilities. We have 113 facilities in Gaza, including 28 schools and six health centers that have been damaged in the war."
Tamara says that the basic groundwork has been prepared. She says the estimated cost will be $152 million on all priorities, with Qatar and Egypt pledging $1 billion in aid, with several other countries also announcing aid. People have started registering claims for assistance, Dr Tahir is one of them but they do not know how long it will take for help to reach them. He says, "After registration we can wait, but many of the people listed in the previous struggle (2014) to rebuild the destroyed houses are still waiting for help."
Piles of rubble are all around, with the local administration estimating that it will take a month to clear the debris before any reconstruction work can begin. "It's not just a question of rebuilding a building, we have to make sure we remove the debris safely," says Tamara. Officials believe that the reconstruction work will not start before September.
After the ceasefire, both the Israel government and Gaza's ruling party Hamas declared victory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are now out of power. Political analysts say Hamas has never been fully respected and supported by all Gaza citizens. But local support for Hamas is estimated to have dwindled further since the tussle this time.
The majority of Gaza's population is Muslim, there is also a small Christian minority, but there are no Palestinian Jews living in Gaza. Talking about Jewish-Muslim rapprochement in Gaza and inside Israel is also beyond imagination. It will take several decades and may take many more decades for the political classes on both sides to agree on the two-state principle. Are the Muslims of Gaza ready to negotiate with the Jews of Israel in person? Can the two become close?
Dr. Taher has no problem with the Jewish people, but he is against the "racist policy of the Israeli state and against the use of excessive force." He says, "I want you to give my message to the Indian people and the Government of India that to end this tragedy, boycott the government of Israel and impose sanctions. We have been suffering their persecution since 1948."
Aqil has only one Jewish friend who lives in America, he is certainly not against the idea of friendship between the two communities, "We are human before we are Muslim or Christian or Jewish or Palestinian or Israeli, because we are human. That's why we should protect each other and we should communicate with each other." His colleague Tamer Ajrami also has a positive outlook. He says, "The problem with Israel is not its people, but the government, we Palestinian Muslims and Christians have no problem with any Jewish person, we respect people of different religions.