Tuesday, July 22, by Safaa El Derawi writing from the Gaza Strip
In Gaza, if we do not die from Israeli military attacks, we will die from the lack of basic needs and rights.
We have been living in a bad situation for years due to the siege, but since the beginning of these intense Israeli attacks, the situation in Gaza has severely deteriorated.
Tuesday, July 22, by Safaa El Derawi writing from the Gaza Strip
In Gaza, if we do not die from Israeli military attacks, we will die from the lack of basic needs and rights.
We have been living in a bad situation for years due to the siege, but since the beginning of these intense Israeli attacks, the situation in Gaza has severely deteriorated.
There is a large deficit in all basic needs of life:
– No electricity: Many power transformers in Gaza Strip were bombed by Israeli warplanes. People live without electricity. The best area in Gaza gets just two-hours of power daily. And some areas get three hour but only after a break of 36 hours. We can’t refrigerate our food, charge our phones, or turn on lights.
– No water: Most areas of the Gaza Strip are completely without running water. There are areas that receive water just five hours a week. People stand in long lines to buy 10 liters of water used for drinking, cooking and also for washing
– No medicine: There is a large deficit in medicines. Hospitals can't provide full treatment to the injured and sick.
– Sanitation: Wastewater pumping stations stopped working because of the lack of power so the waste water collects in ponds among residential neighborhoods, causing bad odors and the presence of insects, which will spread diseases and cause epidemics.
It is a hot summer in Gaza with temperatures in the 80s and 90s (F). Most the families in Gaza are large and living in small houses – some have moved in with relatives after their homes were destroyed or their neighborhoods became too dangerous. We are suffering this hot summer with no electricity, no water. People are not able to provide milk and food for their children. They are afraid to go out of their homes to buy their needs because many people were killed on their way to buy food.
The most miserable are those families that left of their homes without anything and went to the UN schools. They sleep on the floor without blankets, do not find food or drink after 16 hours of fasting. Gaza's people are not afraid of missiles only, they are afraid their children will die of hunger. Our lives have become very difficult, constant shelling, dark, disease, hunger, thirst. The children do not stop crying.
Those who were killed die just one time. But those of us who remain alive, we die each day more than once. This is a slow death is supported by the world’s silence.
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.
MECA is raising funds to provide food and milk to displaced families and to help hospitals and clinics purchase medicine and medical supplies. Please donate now!
