A Palestinian mother from Gaza City trying to repair her damaged and flooded tent after heavy overnight rainfall at the refugee tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah. — AP
DISPLACED Gaza Strip residents largely entered the new year on Wednesday shivering in tent camps or taking refuge in schools-turned-shelters as Israel’s war with Hamas neared its 16th month.
At least five people were killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza before dawn in the city of Jabalia, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency service overseen by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its reporting.
The Israeli military said fighter jets had bombarded a “terrorist structure” in an attempt to target Hamas militants within it. In a statement, the Israeli military said it had taken precautions to avoid harming civilians.
As the war ground on, Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli Defence minister who helped oversee his country’s military campaign in Gaza for more than a year until he was fired last November by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a televised statement that he was stepping down from his seat in Parliament.
Gallant said his insistence that the military begin conscripting ultra-Orthodox citizens, who have long been exempted from mandatory service, had been behind his dismissal. Since then, he said, Netanyahu has rushed through a conscription Bill that still exempts too many and won’t meet Israel’s security needs.
“That I cannot accept and be a partner to,” Gallant said.
His resignation came as mediators were trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining Israeli hostages seized by Hamas during their Oct 7 attack in 2023.
More than a year into the war between Israel and Hamas, many Palestinians in Gaza are living in makeshift tents, and finding enough food and clean water has become a daily ordeal. Over the past few days, they have endured chilly winter rainstorms, leading to some babies dying from the cold.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, Awad Abid, a displaced taxi driver, spent the past two days huddling with his children in a half-flooded tent. Abid said he was barely able to purchase enough flour to keep them fed, let alone buy new blankets and coats.
“Tonight we’ll cover ourselves in blankets that are still drenched in water, because the sun was too weak to dry them out,” Abid said.
Montaser Bahja, an English teacher from Jabalia, said he was lucky enough to find an empty apartment in Gaza City to shelter with his family in. In a vain effort to keep out of the cold, he spread plastic wrap over the frames of windows shattered in the fighting.
During the rainstorm, Bahja said, the near-constant sound of Israeli airstrikes slowed to the occasional distant blast. But then on New Year’s Eve, as the downpour began to let up, the bombardment resumed across northern Gaza, he said.
“We hoped that by the new year the war would end,” Bahja said. “Instead, there was bombing all night.”
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel retaliated to the Hamas attack with a genocidal war, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Hamas’ Oct 7 assault killed around 1,200 people in Israel and 250 people, mostly civilians, were taken hostage.
Officials and mediators had voiced tentative optimism in December for negotiations for a ceasefire deal. They pointed to a weakened Hamas that might be more willing to make concessions and to increased pressure by the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump on both sides. But a deal has yet to emerge, despite last-ditch attempts by US President Joe Biden’s advisers to reach one before he leaves office.
For those in Gaza, the reports of progress brought a surge of optimism – quickly followed by yet more crushing disappointment as the talks appeared to stall.
“We looked through Facebook at videos of everyone abroad happy and celebrating the new year with their children,” Abid said. “Meanwhile, we’re still being bombed and hungry and cold.” – ©2024 New York Times Company
Wet winter in Gaza
A Palestinian mother from Gaza City trying to repair her damaged and flooded tent after heavy overnight rainfall at the refugee tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah. — AP
A Palestinian mother and displaced woman from Gaza City, tries to repair her flooded and damaged tent after heavy overnight rainfall at the refugee tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip. — AP
Children doing their bit to clear mud out of their previously flooded tent at Deir al-Balah. — AP
