Israeli Bombing of Gaza Witnessed by Palestinian Journalists
17:43 12.10.2023 (Updated: 19:18 12.10.2023)
© AP Photo / Hatem Ali
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Two Palestinian journalists have given first-hand accounts of the Israeli bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip. The death toll after six days of fighting has exceeded 1,400 in Gaza, along with more than 1,300 in Israel.
Gaza resident and journalist Tareq Hajjaj and Ahmad Al-Bazz, an independent journalist and filmmaker, told Sputnik of the suffering faced by ordinary Palestinians since the decades-long conflict escalated sharply over the weekend.
Palestinian militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched a major incursion into southern Israel on Saturday, apparently taking the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) by surprise despite prior warnings from neighboring Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered electricity and water supplies to be cut off in the tiny enclave, home to more than two million people. The IDF said 222 of its soldiers had been killed — the worst casualties since its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000 — and 97 more taken prisoner by Hamas and other militant groups. Dozens of Israeli civilians are also being held hostage in Gaza.
Journalist Tareq Hajjaj noted that he and other civilians "have no safe place to go."
"The Israeli bombing is continuous. Every second we hear a bomb in a different place," Hajjajj said. "Israel sent messages to people to evacuate their home in every area around the Gaza Strip. People on the street start asking, 'Where should we go?'"
The correspondent for the Mondoweiss website said that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's vow to "destroy Hamas," the movement which governs in Gaza in partnership with the Fatah party-dominated Palestinian Authority based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was counter-productive.
"Even people that don't support Hamas or its actions this time, they are supporting Hamas fully because they saw on the first day how Hamas broke down the borders," Hajjaj pointed out, adding: "They felt for the first time that Hamas is actually doing something to liberate Palestine."
He said the total blockade of Gaza by Israel, which even bombed the Rafah crossing point into Egypt to prevent humanitarian aid convoys from entering, was causing immense hardship among the population.
"People are suffering in order to obtain even 100 liters of water to put in their homes. Homes are completely empty of water, completely empty of food. The supermarkets are empty. There isn't any place to get food from," Hajjaj stressed, noting: "The scale of suffering is double this time because of the water and food shortage."
He dismissed Tel Aviv's assertion that it was only targeting militants in the enclave.
"Israel is targeting journalists' homes. The homes of two journalists to enter occupied Palestine, and the first day to report on the situation were targeted," Hajjaj said, adding: "Israel has targeted the ambulances and the medical care staff. So far, seven ambulances affiliated to the Health Ministry have been directly targeted."
Fellow journalist Ahmad al-Bazz told Sputnik from Nablus in the West Bank that since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, the IDF had locked down the communities in the West Bank.
"Palestinians in the West Bank live in separated enclaves. All of these enclaves have military gates at the main entrances. So right after the escalation in Gaza, the Israeli military made sure to close down all of these gates," Bazz explained.
Moreover, he said the IDF and Israelis from the hundreds of illegal settlements dotting the West Bank opened fire on Palestinians protesting in support of their compatriots in Gaza, killing dozens.
"I think the number has reached something like 28 or 29 since the beginning of the Gaza escalation, including three Palestinians who were killed in a village south of Nablus this afternoon when Israeli settlers raided that village in order to show some kind of revenge or rage against what the population has been facing next to Gaza," Bazz said.
In addition, the journalist said the situation in the West Bank was "nothing that can be compared to what is happening in Gaza." But while it was relatively quiet and safe in the centers of cities like Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron, "movement in between these enclaves is not."
Elaborating on Israel's intentions, Bazz said some believe the IDF wants to "end the Gaza model" of "a closed ghetto where Palestinians live and there is no presence for the Israeli military."
"Maybe they prefer the West Bank model, in which there is a presence for the Israeli military everywhere in the West Bank, controlling the population in a direct way. Some Israeli leaders refer to some historical changes that are going to happen... occupying Gaza, imposing a direct occupation, instead of a siege," Bazz argued.
