During the last days of September, the Israeli army bombed a Hamas office and a mosque in a refugee camp in central Gaza. This strike, one of thousands, did not attract the attention of the residents of the enclave. The buildings were empty, only two passers-by died. Then, once the shock wave had passed, the neighbors quietly told each other that they felt much better without the Hamas facilities.
“For a year, I feared the day a bomb would fall on us because of them. Our living room was impressed. “A large piece of debris grazed my daughter’s head and almost killed her, but now I can breathe better.”Khalil, a neighbor contacted by phone, says in a very animated voice. This father wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the Islamist movement.
At the beginning of the war, Khalil left his home for fear of bombing. In fragile health, he wandered for months between various shelters, thought he was losing his mind, and then preferred to risk returning home. “ It was said that the Israelis were saving the premises because they had an informant inside. Just the day before, Hamas distributed meat there, plagues Khalil. We were shocked because most people can’t afford it anymore. Hamas prefers to feed its own, rather than give it to the poorest, who struggle to survive on humanitarian rations. »
“My enemy”
After a year of war, these criticisms that Khalil expresses anonymously are common in Gaza. They circulate widely on social networks, where Hamas is designated with circumlocutions that deceive no one. : “My enemy” EITHER “my fault”. In the streets, in the markets, some even openly blame the political leaders of the movement. “I thought they were going to release us on October 7, 2023, I was happy! »recalls Obaida Shamali, an 18-year-old young man, also contacted by phone, Israel prohibits the foreign press from going to Gaza.
Obaida has since lost his two closest friends. Displaced in central Gaza, he tries to meet the needs of his mother and his three little brothers and sisters. “Our dreams have faded, said. We realized that Hamas did not think about protecting civilians when they prepared their operation, and now we are experiencing a new Nakba because of them.the “catastrophe” that accompanied the birth of Israel in 1948 and caused the forced exodus of some 700,000 people.
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