The Powerless Sector: How Gazans Are Trying to Survive Israeli Bombings

On the night of October 28, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced the beginning of a new phase of military operations in the Gaza Strip. The enclave includes tank units and ground units. At the same time, the Air Force is carrying out air strikes. Communications in the sector stop working. The IDF claims that the targets were terrorist bases both on the ground and underground. Tel Aviv emphasizes that these actions cannot be considered the beginning of a large-scale special operation. Prime Minister Netanyahu calls what is happening the second stage of previously taken actions. Now the goal is to free the hostages. According to Western sources, the attack began precisely after the breakdown of negotiations on their fate. The possibility of a truce to free the people captured by Hamas was discussed. The parties put forward mutually unacceptable conditions.

This is not the first time that Netanyahu has stated that there will definitely be an offensive, but still does not dare to give the order. One of the objective reasons is the risks that the defense army will have to face. Tanks on the narrow streets of Gaza become a target; an extensive network of tunnels allows militants to attack attackers unpredictably anywhere in the strip. Suffice it to recall the experience of the Vietnam War, where a network of such tunnels turned into a death trap for the Americans. It is impossible to track the movements of the defending units; they try not to use modern means of communication – wired telephone lines are laid in the tunnels for this purpose. Plus, there are suicide bombers, the number of which has apparently only increased in recent weeks.

The Israeli army is trying to eliminate the threat through carpet bombing, a tactic favored by the United States. According to some reports, the amount of explosives dropped, mostly American, is already comparable in power to the nuclear bomb dropped by the same United States on Hiroshima. Correspondent”Izvestia“Ibrahim Isbaita – about the situation in the Gaza Strip.

These terrible images seem to contain all the pain and despair that gripped the Gaza Strip. Almost 8 thousand people were killed there by Israeli missile strikes.

“He’s only 2.5 months old! What has he done?!”asks the father of a baby who died in the Gaza Strip.

On the night of October 28, the enclave was subjected to the most powerful air raid during the entire escalation.

“Under the attacks of Israeli missiles, buildings in the Gaza Strip are literally collapsing. Here, behind me, one of the residential buildings is now a pile of concrete. And there are still people under the rubble,” – says the correspondent.

Ambulances rush towards the smoking ruins. The man is covered in debris, but he only thinks about his family.

“Ahmed, we pulled out your wife and children. You hold on too, we will save you.”they say to the man.

It’s hard to even take a breath here—concrete dust clogs your lungs. The rescuers give up from powerlessness.

“We want to live without rockets falling on our heads”says a girl from the Gaza Strip.

Hospitals are overcrowded – men lie down on the dirty floor, giving up space on couches and mattresses to women and children.

Isaac Redwan hardly sleeps. Many of his colleagues died. In the fight for the life of the wounded old man, the doctor was powerless.

Trucks loaded with bodies make several trips to mass burial sites.

Those left homeless cook food over an open fire from what they find among the ruins.

“The Gaza Strip is now a zone of humanitarian disaster. The enclave is cut off from supplies: the supply of water and electricity has been cut off, and there is very little food. Food supplies will last for a maximum of two weeks.”says the correspondent.

In between bombings, leaflets are dropped from the sky calling for evacuations to the south. But after the attacks on Khan Yunis, where an entire neighborhood was wiped out, people don’t believe the promises.

“We’ll stay here. If they want to bomb us, they can do it.”says a Gaza resident.

Refugee camps are opened in UN schools. This is what Anna lives in. Her house was destroyed, her son-in-law and daughter were miraculously rescued from the rubble. Now the family is together again – huddled in a tarpaulin tent.

“Just now, an hour ago, there was an explosion near us. There are no safe places in Gaza. No one can guarantee that we will live tomorrow.”says Anna Ashur.

Several trucks with humanitarian aid were allowed through the Rafah checkpoint towards the Gaza Strip, but it is still impossible to leave the enclave.