The Israeli army renews its warning to Gaza residents not to head north

64-year-old Palestinian Suleiman Abu Lihia resumes his habit of cleaning the street leading to his home and the homes of his children and siblings in the border town of Al-Qarara, north of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, before eating breakfast and tea prepared over a wood fire with some of his children, grandchildren and friends, to regain part of his life. Normal conditions before the outbreak of war.

With a broad smile and a loud voice, the man invites passers-by, relatives and others, to drink tea from a large refrigerator that he used to prepare every morning. Amidst his invitations, he sprinkles words of optimism and hope that the truce can continue for a longer period, and even end the war. He says: “Do not worry, the world is fine, and every beginning has its beginning.” end”.

The man is striving to regain the details of daily life, even if temporarily, after more than a month and a half he spent with his family in a shelter center in western Khan Yunis, before returning on Friday to his place of residence after the temporary truce that was reached between the Hamas movement and Israel, while urging His neighbors took advantage of the few days of calm to manage their lives, and not think about what was past or what is coming.

Life must go on

Abu Lihia says: “Life must go on, and as long as there is an opportunity for that, we must invest every minute in it and not distract ourselves with what is beyond our control. If each person starts with himself, we will turn the days of calm into days of relief from the torment of displacement.” He wondered: “Isn’t it logical to invest every minute in days of calm instead of pessimism?” Why do we torture ourselves with decisions we do not have that are in the hands of others in Gaza and the occupation? Do we accept our death while we are still breathing and alive?

His fifty-year-old neighbor, Musa Fayyad, interrupts him, objecting to his talk about returning to life partially, despite all the victims who fall and the massive destruction everywhere in the Gaza Strip, in addition to the loss of the minimum necessities of life, especially in terms of food and medicine, considering that talk about a normal life during the truce has jumped. On endless catastrophic events and an unreal expression of the reality closest to the Nakba, he said.

Adapting to the new reality

The debate continues between the two men, who express two different points of view, even though they live in the same miserable conditions and are exposed to the same displacement, death, and bombing. However, their conversation summarized the attempts of many to adapt to the new reality and live regardless of the circumstances and resume life at any cost during the truce, and the reluctance of others to do so. Considering that death is still present, and it is only a matter of days before returning to the previous bloody scene.

Fayyad says: “I could not leave the war zone despite the truce.” It is true that the planes left the sky and the bombing stopped, but our survival is temporary, and we may lose our lives or our families within days. This feeling afflicts many people, and makes us unable to feel comfortable. Expecting your death or the destruction of your home after a few days is an unimaginable feeling.”

However, this bleak picture did not prevent the majority of the people of the Gaza Strip from enjoying these days by all available means, not only by returning to the homes and areas from which they were displaced and spending the night there, but even by playing with their children in the remains of the available parks and children’s play gardens, in addition to playing some sports. , including football, in the streets and alleys.

“I want to play and be happy”

On the beach of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip, parents are busy playing with their children on some old games. They move the swings up and down regularly at times, and move on to another game to push the children to slide to the ground at other times. When the place becomes crowded with children, they are forced to play with them on the dirt for a while. Traditional folk games.

Despite the large number of children and the lack of toys available in the small garden, the nine-year-old girl, Ruba Al-Khalili, did not stop moving between the toys in order to enjoy the longest possible period of play, hoping to quench her thirst for the pleasure that she was deprived of during the 5 weeks of displacement with her family in a shelter center. .

The little girl goes off, like many people like her, with joy and a smile on her face. She refuses to even take a short break between games, and she says to her mother spontaneously: “Mama, we are calm, I want to play and be happy.” After the mother urged her to stop for a while and give the other children a chance. Who are waiting for their turn.

The girl says: “The calm will pass quickly, and I do not want to waste any time without playing, because the shelter school has no games, and I look at this garden throughout the war, and I cannot get there,” adding: “We have nothing to do with the war. We want to play, feel happy and enjoy our days without bombing.”

Reducing the stress of war

Not far away, the family of forty-year-old Muhammad Al-Aidi, who was displaced from northern Gaza, gathered around a simple dining table on the side of this garden after a long delay. He was trying to gather his children to eat with them, but they insisted on continuing to play, until he forced them to sit down to eat and then return to play again. .

Al-Aidi, whose newly built house and housing units for his family and siblings were destroyed by the Israeli bombing, explains that families use every minute of calm to relieve the enormous pressures of war on their children, describing life in shelter centers as fatal for adults and even more fatal for the psychological conditions of children, which makes entertainment and play an absolute necessity. It is less important than the medicine for patients, in his estimation.

He says: “The truce is a good opportunity to restore life a little, and reduce the burden of war, even though we have not returned to our areas in the north, but we cannot relax and accept slow death. The truce alleviates the pain and shocks of what we experienced during the previous days, and provides adults and children with positive energy to bear what is coming, and thus the ability to continue life despite its extreme cruelty during the war.”

Fear of the end of the truce

In parallel with his call to extend the days of the truce and to work Palestinian, Arab and international to achieve this in order to avoid the scourges of war that destroy civilians and destroy their lives and their homes and property, he expressed his fear of what might happen after the end of the truce, a fear that haunts all the people of Gaza and haunts them day and night, because they have tasted the bitterness of life. With the taste of death, he said.

The people of the Gaza Strip are partially restoring their lives and feeling safe during the truce. Markets, residential neighborhoods, and even shelter centers are witnessing active movement, while the numbers of displaced persons within the cities have declined after large numbers of them have returned to the areas from which they were displaced.