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Bombed houses, bloody people, suffering children. Death is ever-present in Dayr al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where Ahmed Abuzaid is. The city is a couple of miles from the Rafah border crossing to Egypt.
Many people sleep outdoors. They have nowhere to go since the massive Israeli bombardment began on Gaza, as a response to the terror-labeled Hamas attack on Israel barely six weeks ago.
No protection
Many Gazans heeded Israel’s warnings early on and left the northern parts of the area. In Dayr al-Balah there are now a huge number of people, but there is nowhere to take shelter. Ahmed Abuzaid tries to put the situation into words.
– It’s fucking bad no matter how I try to describe it. It’s bombed all around all the time. It is difficult to move outside because there are Israeli planes coming all the time, he says on a scratchy phone line.
Getting hold of food has become more difficult. The store shelves are increasingly empty.
– It has gotten worse, many are dying. Many of those who die cannot even be counted, says Ahmed Abuzaid.
The wife in Sweden
At the Rafah border crossing a couple of miles south, as a rule, only foreign nationals or Palestinians with dual citizenship or foreign residency are allowed through, according to a list of people allowed to cross the border.
– And it’s not just about leaving. Of course I want to and I want to go back to my wife but I want this to end. My extended family is here, there are children and there are women, it’s not just about yourself, says Ahmed Abuzaid.
Abuzaid came to Sweden in 2014 but does not have a permanent residence permit. Last spring, a deportation order came and he went to his family in Gaza. He is on leave from his job as a physiotherapist at a health center in Karlskoga. However, his wife still lives in Sweden. She is in close contact with the Swedish authorities, something that is more difficult for him given Gaza’s poor phone lines and lack of internet connection.
– I want to get out of here and see my wife, but I also want to try to help my family, he says.
“Just Survive”
In Dayr al-Balah, Ahmed Abuzaid and his parents have moved in with an aunt after he and his mother were injured in an Israeli attack near his parents’ home in Gaza City in October. The aunt’s children and grandchildren also live in the house.
A day in the Gaza Strip in November 2023 means a lot of concern. There is not much to do except keep up with the news as much as possible.
– We can collect firewood to cook the next day, but there is nothing else to do. Just survive.
People at a building destroyed by Israeli bombing in Dayr al-Balah in the Gaza Strip last week. Archive image. Image: Hatem Moussa/AP/TT
On Saturday, October 7, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out a coordinated terrorist attack against Israel. At least 2,500 armed Hamas militiamen broke through the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel in a coordinated manner. Thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli territory.
Full numbers of dead and other casualties are still uncertain, but according to Israeli estimates, around 1,200 people were shot, stabbed and burned to death in the attack. Massacres were carried out in kibbutzim and at a music festival held near the border. At the same time, over 1,000 of the perpetrators are said to have been killed.
And around 200 people, among them children, were taken hostage and taken to Gaza by Hamas.
The day after the deadliest attack on Israel in the country’s history, the Israeli government formally declared war on Hamas. In extensive and sustained bombing, entire areas of the Gaza Strip have been left in ruins. Israel has vowed to destroy terror-labeled Hamas.
More than 11,500 people have been killed in the Israeli attacks, according to information from the authorities in Gaza. The civilian population has been urged by Israel to seek south, and many are seeking the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, but civilians have been killed in continued bombardment throughout the Gaza Strip.
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