Gaza’s ‘Open-air’ Winter

By Ola Attallah

IOL, November 7, 2009

GAZA CITY – Nine-year-old Mohamed is trying hard to keep the tent door closed against the freezing winter winds.

"A new winter has come," Mohamed told IslamOnline.net in a desperate voice.

"Again, we will live in dark and cold weather. We will be sinking in rainwater."

The Gazan boy is living with his family in a tent since their three-storey house was destroyed in a deadly Israeli offensive in Gaza earlier this year.

"I can’t believe that we will see a new freezing winter while living in the open air," his elder brother Khalil, 17, said.

The poor Gazan family went through harsh days last winter after the destruction of their house.

"Here the tragedy is recurring. We will die freezing," said Khalil.

Israeli troops killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded thousands in a three-week onslaught on the Gaza Strip in January.

The offensive wrecked havoc on the infrastructure, leaving nearly 20,000 homes and thousands of other buildings damaged.

Israel restricts access of cement, steel and other materials into Gaza to allow the rebuilding of thousands of damaged homes.

Israel has slapped a chocking siege on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.6 million Palestinians, since Hamas was voted to power in 2006.

It further tightened the blockade and closed Gaza's crossings to the outside world after Hamas assumed control in 2007.

Freezing Winter

Shaimaa, 13, desperately recalls her warm days in their house.

"I almost go nuts when I remember how we used to spend winter nights at our home.

"Our mother used to provide us with blankets and hot drinks to warm up," she recalls.

"But now," she says, looking around at the small impoverished tent, whose roof is covered with a sheet of plastic.

Shaima’s mother immediately moves on to take her into her arms.

"I get mad whenever I hear my children talking about their warm days in our home," the bereaved mother says.

"I wish I would wake up one day to find myself at my old kitchen preparing hot meals for my kids before going to wake them up."

At the tent door, Zayed, the father, stands gazing in pity at his family.

"I don’t know how we would live this winter," he says in a desperate voice.

The Gazan father recalls how they spent the past freezing days in the open.

"Rains sank us with the stormy winds tearing the plastic roof into pieces," he said.

"We used to kid and laugh together during our warm days at our house, but now we can’t even light a candle for not burning down the place.

"How would we live in such a weather?"