At least 60 Palestinians were killed in Al-Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City today and thousands of people fleeing their homes.

Sunday, July 20, by Safaa El Derawi writing from the Gaza Strip

At least 60 Palestinians were killed in Al-Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City today and thousands of people fleeing their homes.

Sunday, July 20, by Safaa El Derawi writing from the Gaza Strip

I grew up seeing pictures of the Nakba (“the catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages). Men carrying children, women with a few belongings in their bags, elderly walking hunched over as they fled their homes looking for safety. But I never imagined I would see these images all over again in 2014. Today in streets all over Gaza, these images were repeated. But this time with even more blood and tragedy because there is no escape from death in Gaza.

The Gaza Strip is closed from all directions. We have no exit by land, air, or sea.

Thousands of families left their homes in the Al-Shajayia district (east of Gaza City) carrying their children, trying to save their lives. After 12 hours of continuous artillery shelling and aerial bombardment, whole neighborhoods went out to the streets looking for a safe shelter. But there is no shelter in Gaza.

Homes were destroyed on top of families without warning.  People were bombed in the streets as they frantically searched for safety. Hundreds of victims were killed and injured and then left to bleed in the street because the Israeli army prevented ambulances from entering the area.

Blood and bodies and body parts covered the earth, the smell of death spread everywhere.

Shajayia massacre brought conjures images of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, of the 1996 Qana massacre, of the 1947 Deir Yassin massacre. I hope this will be the last of a long list of Israeli massacres.

Safaa El Derawi, Gaza Project Assistant for Middle East Children’s Alliance, is an environmental engineer living in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza.  In addition to her work with MECA, she volunteers with youth groups working on issues related to water and the environment and providing awareness to the community about the causes of Palestine’s water crisis, their water rights, and the suggested solutions.