Camps in the middle of the Gaza Strip…steadfastness despite massacres and destruction

The Bureij, Al-Maghazi, Al-Nuseirat and Deir Al-Balah camps in the central Gaza Strip have been under intense bombardment, by the Israeli occupation, since the start of its aggression on the 7th of last October. This atrocious attack  resulted in thousands of martyrs and wounded, and the destruction of entire residential neighborhoods in these overcrowded camps – even UNRWA shelter centers were subjected to occupation bombardment and their forces besieged.

Shadi Qassem, who is currently residing in an UNRWA shelter in Deir al-Balah, told a SANA reporter: “The occupation uses ” scorched earth policy”, in its aggression against the camps in the middle of the Gaza Strip. It displaces most of its residents, after demolishing entire residential neighborhoods.

He indicated that about 600,000 displaced people arrived from the camps, in the middle and north of the Strip, to the city of Deir al-Balah, which is subjected to continuous bombardment by air, land and sea. Despite the intensity of the bombing, the people of the camps continue to remain steadfast in the face of the occupation, which has also cut off their supplies of food, medicine and water and destroyed the infrastructure.

Mahmoud Abu Madin from Nuseirat camp ,confirms that the occupation bombed entire residential squares in the camp, and targeted infrastructure and public facilities in an attempt to displace its people, who refuse to leave their homes despite rockets and shells. He pointed out that the occupation separated the camps in the middle of the Strip from each other after destroying all the roads connecting them.

Muhammad Al-Awawdah points out that the occupation bulldozers destroyed all the areas connecting the Bureij and Al-Maghazi camps, which include homes, economic facilities and farms . All the mentioned places were leveled to the ground.He explained that the occupation’s bombing destroyed all the homes, in the eastern areas of the two camps .Moreover the occupation forces are besieging thousands of Palestinians in them and depriving them of food and medicine.

Younis Abu Oreiban from the Nuseirat camp, narrates part of the suffering of the people of the camps in the middle of the Gaza Strip, saying: “ We cannot move, the wounded can hardly even reach Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, because arriving there has become a death journey in light of the occupation aircraft’s destruction of Salah Al-Din Street, which connects the center to the southern sector of the strip, while continuing to bomb the hospital.

In the camps in the middle of the Gaza Strip, there are only two hospitals providing services to about 600,000 displaced people, namely Al-Aqsa Martyrs in Deir Al-Balah and Al-Awda in the Nuseirat camp. In light of the lack of the necessary medical capabilities to treat the wounded and sick, whose numbers have increased significantly, tents were set up to receive them on the roads leading to Al-Awda Hospital.

The Israeli occupation separated the center of the Gaza Strip from its north and south, making the camps completely cut off amid an acute shortage of medicines, medical supplies, food and infant formula. Thousands of afflicted displaced persons resorted to sleeping on the ground and roads in the city of Deir al-Balah, as a result of the city’s overcrowding with hundreds of thousands of displaced people, who were exhausted by hunger and thirst ,as the Israeli occupation continues its siege and brutal aggression for the 94th day.

Leen Al Salman