Masters of survival: Gaza's resilience amid genocide
9 Min Read
Despite enduring a real-time genocide, the people of Gaza emerge resilient from the rubble, imparting numerous humanitarian and moral lessons, serving as exemplars of survival mastery for the whole world to see.
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Palestinian people exhibit unparalleled resilience, strength, and courage in the face of a real-time genocide. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El Hajj)
The Gaza Strip, an area of the occupied Palestinian territories, has endured 17 years of almost total siege by the Israeli occupation forces. During this period, Gaza has endured four major Israeli aggression campaigns in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021, resulting in thousands of deaths, injuries, and disabilities.
Israeli brutality has orchestrated a chronic humanitarian crisis characterized by food insecurity, limited access to healthcare, lack of electricity and fuel, unemployment, and widespread poverty, as well as an environmental emergency due to air, land, and water pollution.
The region is entirely sealed and cut off through land separation barriers, Israeli restrictions limiting Palestinian vessels to a maximum of two nautical miles from the western coasts, and constant drone surveillance, which frequently targets residential areas.
Presently, "Israel" has unleashed an aggression amounting to genocide and ethnic cleansing, with a death toll exceeding 18,000, including over 7,000 children. Despite this devastating reality, the people of Gaza emerge resilient from the rubble, demonstrating a firm determination once again in the face of the monstrous Israeli war machine, as they have done for over 75 years. In doing so, they impart numerous humanitarian and moral lessons, serving as exemplars of survival mastery for the entire world to see.
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
— Nadr Fares - نضر فارس (@nadrfares) November 8, 2023
هذه المشاهد فيها من القوة والعنفوان والصبر ما لم نره من شعب أبداً..
يخرجون من تحت الأنقاض ومن بين الركام ودماؤهم نازفة رافعين إشارة النصر!!! ✌️✌️✌️✌️
شعب غزة انتصر وهذا النصر لا يغيبه كل ما يحدث من قتل ودمار.#غزه_تقاوم_وستنتصر #غزه_تزحف_الي_القدس #وحدة_الساحات_والدم pic.twitter.com/gxEKGjrQe2
Surviving day by day
As a result of fuel shortages caused by "Israel's" total blockade on the Gaza Strip, compounded by relentless bombardment, the only mill in the region is incapable of grinding wheat. Nevertheless, the alluring scent of burning firewood and newly baked bread fills the atmosphere, courtesy of wood-fired taboons. These traditional ovens, constructed from clay, animal dung, and straw, are manually shaped and left to dry in the sunlight.
Gazans are currently relying on these traditional ovens not only for baking bread but also for simple tasks like making coffee or tea, highlighting the adaptability of the population in the face of adversity.
While previous bombardment campaigns did not drag on as this war, the current situation has left Gazans uncertain about their safety and where to seek refuge. Today, the daily activities of Gazans are centered around crucial responsibilities, and some Gazans are considered fortunate if they have access to essential items such as bread or food.
In simple and primitive ways, the displaced people made a clay oven so that they could make bread and cook food.
— Yazan Abu Eid (@yazanabueid) November 24, 2023
بطرق بسيطة بدائية قام مجموعة من النازحين
بصناعة فرن من الطين كي يتمكنوا من صناعة الخبز وطهي الطعام
ويستفيد من هذا الفرن عشرات العائلات طوال اليوم
وسط قطاع غزة pic.twitter.com/9LoRnyzQvF
A mom of two and a clay oven
In the aftermath of a devastating airstrike that claimed the lives of 17 relatives and reduced her home to rubble, 30-year-old Kamar Harazeen, a mother of two toddlers, found herself with no choice but to turn to an age-old tradition passed down by her grandmother to feed her family.
Amid the rubble, she ingeniously crafted a clay oven to provide sustenance for her children and what remains of her shattered family. This poignant tale underscores the harsh realities faced by families in Gaza, where survival often necessitates a return to ancestral practices and unconventional methods.
Yesterday, during our work, we had a hot lunch, we were invited by Um Mustafa, a displaced mother from Gaza, to the UNRWA camp in the south. It was the first thing we eat since morning. Mothers are the ones helping us endure and stay strong.
— Ahmed El-Madhoun from #Gaza (@madhoun95) November 24, 2023
Um Mustafa helps other families by… pic.twitter.com/OCQp3jydeK
For the past months, we have been using wood and coal to make fire to cook and heat water for bathing.
— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) November 27, 2023
Since the beginning of its deadly attack on #Gaza, Israel has cut fuel, gas, and electricity supplies into the blockaded strip.
Here is how we cook in our house of refuge: pic.twitter.com/fregEZ5vDm
Kamar's story serves as a testament to the resilience of Gazan women facing genocide, highlighting their strength and resourcefulness. It also reflects the extraordinary lengths a mother is willing to go to ensure the well-being of her children.
Living without electricity
Amid total electricity outage, residents of Gaza have employed creative methods to charge their phones, including using car batteries, adapting diesel generators to bio-oil such as cooking oil, and salvaging and rebuilding solar panel components. These actions showcase a combination of ingenuity and determination.
Civilians in #Gaza are fighting electricity cuts by using car batteries to charge their phones to contact their loved ones amid the brutal Israeli aggression on the Strip.#Palestine #GazaUnderAttack #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/a0Q9L0pDzy
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 16, 2023
"We are forced to use what we have to survive, charging around 40 phones at the same time at few places with solar panel components or using car batteries," journalist Mahmoud Bassam told Al Mayadeen English.
As winter settled in and electricity outages increased, Gazans have resorted to inventive measures to boil water. One method involves utilizing gravity to transfer water from one container to another. During this process, the water flows through a copper solenoid placed inside burning charcoal, eventually reaching its boiling point.
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"I live in a makeshift plastic tent with limited access to water, and there's no availability of hot water. Bathing my three children has become a challenge," 38-year-old Fatima from Khan Younis told Al Mayadeen English.
Fatima stressed that the cold weather has a detrimental impact on the health of her children, aged 10, 7, and 4, adding that her children frequently catch colds and fall ill.
"It saddens me to see them shivering from the cold, and I feel helpless trying to keep them warm. When it gets awfully chilly, we gather, sharing stories so we'd stay warm," she added.
She further noted that her husband has arranged for alternative methods, either using wood for boiling water or a solenoid device. "We are doing everything within our means to ensure the well-being of our children amid the brutal Israeli aggression against us."
It is worth noting that "Israel's" total blockade on Gaza has led to a severe shortage of food supplies. The UN-provided rations have dwindled to approximately one kilogram of flour and a single tin of tuna or beans per day for some, pushing families to survive on basic "bread cakes" from flour and water, made over makeshift fires.
Meet my pretty friend Zeina. She evacuated from Gaza to the south and refused to leave without her cat. The cat shared every displacement experience with her, it wasn't just Zeina—many families brought their animals with them in challenging conditions #Gaza pic.twitter.com/REGoylKVNe
— Ahmed El-Madhoun from #Gaza (@madhoun95) November 19, 2023
Olive pits are now being used as a substitute for firewood in the besieged Gaza Strip. The growing interest in olive pits is a response to the fuel crisis in the region caused by the ongoing aggression and the total blockade. The byproducts of grinding olive pits are highly flammable, lasting for extended periods and providing heat of up to 100 degrees Celsius. They are effective for cooking and heating purposes.
This is how olive pits, pulp and skins are being turned into energy to keep people in Gaza warm this winter pic.twitter.com/ULKMAEonik
— TRT World (@trtworld) November 23, 2020
With resources scarce, people are resorting to extreme measures like chopping down trees in the streets due to the wood shortage. Even fundamental necessities like salt have become rare commodities, with those lucky enough to possess some trading them for significant amounts of food, underscoring the severe challenges faced by Gazans.
Primitive carriers for transportation
Amid a total siege and a relentless attack, many Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to rely on donkeys or horse carts for transportation. The scarcity of cars and fuel has left residents with no alternative but to rely on these unconventional methods. The multifaceted crisis in Gaza has prompted the crucial use of donkey carriers, saving the lives of hundreds.
An owner of one such carrier, speaking to Al Mayadeen, highlighted the dire situation, emphasizing that the absence of ambulances has led to the transportation of injuries and martyrs on donkey carriages.
Only in Gaza: C-sections, amputations with no anesthesia
With an already-strained medical system grappling with limited medicine, depleted food supplies, and intermittent power and communication outages, Gaza faces a grave humanitarian crisis. Israeli attacks systematically targeted hospitals, leaving most out of service and exacerbating the challenges for Gazan doctors. Despite the immense pain and suffering, the resilience of the Gazan people stands out.
Perhaps worst of all, a lack of medical supplies has caused pregnant women in Gaza to endure labor and recovery without anesthetics or drugs. Due to a lack of opioids, obscenely difficult triage choices were made, such as offering only palliative care to a 12-year-old child. Due to a lack of anesthetics and medications, doctors are forced to make tough decisions, including the unfortunate amputation of limbs that could have been saved under better conditions, with some also done without anesthesia.
Pregnant women in #Gaza are being told that they have to deliver their babies and recover from their pain without any anesthetics or painkillers. This comes as Israeli brutal bombing near hospitals in the Gaza Strip continues.#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/h7EB4Enkum
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 1, 2023
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 19, 2023
Paul Ley, a 60-year-old French citizen from the International Committee of the Red Cross team in Gaza, commented on the unprecedented nature of the situation, saying, "I have never seen anything like it," as reported by The Guardian. Amid overwhelming despair, Ley shared a moment of hope when he treated a 32-year-old man with severe shrapnel injuries. The patient's younger sister expressed gratitude and aspirations to become a surgeon, providing a glimmer of optimism amid the devastating circumstances.
#AlMayadeen's correspondent in #Gaza said medical crews are using ice cream freezers to keep the bodies of martyrs in the Strip in light of the unjust siege that encompasses everything, stressing that all the martyrs arriving at hospitals are civilians. #GazaUnderAttack… pic.twitter.com/5HDNKciOZo
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 14, 2023
Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that medical teams are forced to utilize unconventional measures to cope with the circumstances dictated by the unjust siege. Struggling against all odds, medical crews have resorted to repurposing ice cream freezers to preserve the bodies of martyrs in the Strip.
Facing the Israeli occupation, which is nowadays considered one of the most immoral armies globally, the Palestinian people are vividly demonstrating the true essence of the "Culture of Life."
عائلة في غزة تعيش تحت ركام منزلها الذي دمره الاحتلال بعد قصفه خلال العدوان على القطاع pic.twitter.com/4dUSt9EHvJ
— وكالة سند للأنباء - Snd News Agency (@Snd_pal) November 26, 2023
Despite enduring hardships and facing one of the most challenging geopolitical situations, Gazans embody a profound spirit that transcends mere survival, illustrating a profound commitment to the principles of humanity and the indomitable will to thrive under extreme circumstances.
In essence, the Palestinian people exhibit unparalleled resilience, strength, and courage in the face of a real-time genocide. They embody the sentiment expressed by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish: "We love life if we find a way to it."
Read next: 'Israel' killing women, children in Gaza at historic pace: NYT
