The Comment Factory

After a long night of constant bombing and shooting in which not a minute passed without an explosion of some sort, I opened my curtains to the sight of helicopters dropping what became, as it fell, white smoke. In a few minutes and because of the western wind I could not any longer see across the street from my house. I felt itchy and a smell of something rancid permeated the area.

Has all Gaza become what the IDF has called a “Hamas target”?

I drove through Gaza City yesterday and saw, with dismay, the Al-Karama Association building had been destroyed. They used to work with orphans and handicapped children. I continued towards the Beach Camp and was surprised to see only the ruins of a new hotel and a wedding hall called al-Jazeera. I went to visit some of the schools where the displaced people have looked for refuge… there are thousands of them escaping the destruction and death.

Human nature is marvellous and Palestinians are well-known for their resilience. I still saw children playing around in the courtyard of the school. After all, they are children and they seem, at least at first look, oblivious to the pain and the ongoing attacks around them.

***

I am a food security officer with Oxfam GB and we are setting up food distribution to complement the UNRWA operations. I was in the area of Ad Daraj in the centre of Gaza City and am now going to Sheikh Radwan on the edge of Jabalia through 30th street. I have meetings with small local committees to arrange for food distribution of parcels on Saturday or Sunday. We are trying to figure out how to get to people, or how to make people come to places which would not be too exposed.

I have been thinking of ways to guarantee some kind of secure way for the people to pick up the food, but in front of me I see fire in the offices of the UNRWA where tonnes of aid is waiting to be distributed and it’s likely that surrounding buildings are going to go up in smoke as well.

Should I continue to my meetings or simply go home and seek shelter… and would home really provide a shelter in Gaza today?