Transcript from Talk to Gaza - Oct. 2024
In amongst the misery and exhaustion, our team continue to work and to tell us about their lives in “Talk to Gaza” webinars. The last one was on Saturday 26th October. Lauren Donaldson took notes and has given us a clear an accurate account of what was said.
Ahmed A T and Dr Omar joined form Gaza. Niveen joined from Istanbul. The call was convened by David Harrold and Dr Mohamad Al Tawil in the UK.
David started the call with a reflection on the horrific situation in North Gaza. He also outlined where PTC staff are currently based. The team are very much in the Middle Area and Gaza City as the South has been cut off. Two members of staff are now in Istanbul and one is in Egypt.
Ahmed:
It has now been one year without electricity. Just two days ago a UNWRA school in Nuseirat was hit where people were sheltering. 22 were killed, most were children aged 2-12. There is no food or water since the ports in Gaza have been closed.
(Ahmed’s daughter, Maria, was sat with him and someone asked about her and her sister, Celine.) They do nothing. There is no school. Maria is 4 and will go to school next year. They do drawings at home; they learn some English words and Arabic letters. Celine now knows over 30 English words. (Celine’s voice was heard to the side of the camera saying “sun”).
There has been a crisis of food for 3 weeks. Each day we ask, “What will we eat today?”. Flour is too dirty to make bread. There is no cash and sellers reject dirty money. This happened just today; the sellers wouldn’t take my dirty money so I couldn’t buy anything. (Dr Omar explained that this is old/damaged money that has circulated for the past year. Banks have not been taking this in and exchanging it for new cash so sellers are refusing it.) Commission to get money from banks is high: 25-30%. One egg costs $2.50!
I am now talking to myself in the street. I am crazy! I have money in the bank, but I don’t have cash. I can’t buy things. Most people are not able to work and are just living in shelters.
We give up. We are frustrated.
Last night, my friend’s father passed away from a heart attack. My friend was happy; if his father had survived, he would be suffering. There are no hospitals or medicine. He is now in peace.
I tell Celine and Maria: please, please don’t be sick. There is no medicine and no hospital.
Dr Omar:
(Dr Omar joined us by torchlight). All infrastructure including sewage has been destroyed; schools, mosques, water, food. It will take more than 10 years to rebuild Gaza. Everything has changed. The humour has been destroyed. People are suffering every day. There is no safe place in Gaza, but people keep moving to try and protect their family. A school shelter near me was also bombed with over 30 killed, mostly children. This is a genocide. Isreal is killing everything including the animals in the street, without reason. There is hopelessness, frustration. We are looking for any spots of life. It is enough, enough. We are tired from everything. We just want to survive. We feel alone. People feel that the world has forgotten us. At the beginning, there was lots of support from all over the world but now we feel alone. For one month, the borders have been closed. There is nothing in the markets. There is no water to drink. It is a very tragic situation. PTC-UK team is providing psychosocial support and activities in very dangerous situations. They are always under risk. People die at night whist they are sleeping. Whole families fear sleep. This is more than a genocide. Israel is killing everything. Most attacks happen at night, when most are at home. They need to kill big numbers. Last night, 80 were killed in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun. Families are being deleted from civilian records. In many families, a child is left alone. There are many amputees; more than 5000 because of the war. After a ceasefire, people in Gaza will start to think of what’s happened and will be sad and affected by trauma. Now, there is no time to cry, to feel sadness. People are too busy surviving.
There is amazing work still being done by PTC for groups of women and children in the North and Middle Areas. Some colleagues are still living in shelters and still providing psychosocial work. For example, Dr Said is working with orphans using Focusing therapy. They are working in risky circumstances to go to shelters and in the streets, but they are still getting good results. There is bad internet connection so other team members couldn’t join this call. It is too dangerous to go out into the street to find internet and join. (Later it was agreed that the next call would be at 11am GMT/1pm Gaza time to allow others to safely join during daylight hours).
(Dr Mohamed showed a 2-minute video of Dr Said’s work with orphans on resilience. Children are taught coping strategies in the workshop which they are encouraged to go away and use at home. They are still smiling through the horrors. Ahmed will create subtitles/captions for the video then it can be circulated.)
We have had enough, enough. We are tired. Life is a nightmare.
There is a lack of medication especially psychiatric medicines. We asked the WHO 2 months ago, but the borders have been shut. There is a lack of many medicines.
Now the night is coming and the fear is coming. Many things happen from the middle of the night.
Niveen:
Dr Mohamad translated for Niveen, explaining that she used to live in Gaza City where it had taken a long time to get her house. She watches the news 24/7 and has a great fear that Jabalia and Northern Gaza will be wiped forever by Israel’s plans for a new settlement. She fears she’ll never get back to her home. She feels regret but she is secure.
PTC-UK update from David
PTC-UK is now connected to:
· Children Not Numbers: one of the founders/directors also lives in Hatfield. They provide medical and legal support to children in Gaza.
· 13 Rivers Trust: there is a refugee centre in Cairo, which is a place the PTC-UK evacuees can go to.
PTC-UK is preparing for “the day after”, the day we can say we’ll build a future. We are fundraising for recovery/the future. We still want to pay salaries and are trying to ensure staff receive salaries through internet banking using their mobile phones
