HIMANI SANAGARAM
CHICAGO: With the IDF-Hamas Gaza attack more than a year ago, many are wondering if Gaza situation has been in a limbo ever since October 7, 2023. Although the ceasefire was declared many have been left homeless.
Hamas’ 2007 victory created problems for Palestine thus creating two enclaves the West Bank and the Gaza strip and led to a status quo where the Palestinian authority could not figure out a second state and unified Palestine. People in Gaza have suffered more than in the West Bank, inhabited by a majority of Jews. The West Bank settlement is composed of territories acquired by Israel during the six-day war in 1967.
After Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip in 1982 and 2005, the UN still considers the territory occupied by Israel. This had wreaked havoc on people like 19-year-old Abdul Rahman Mounir, an Arab Palestinian resident of Northern Gaza.
“Before the occupation, one of my favorite things to do was play soccer. I actually won the soccer championship at my college,” Mounir said. His information is available on the GoFundMe fundraiser link organized by George Murphy.
On Israeli women captured and raped by Hamas, Mounir was in denial. He said rape is forbidden in Islam and anyone who does that is not a Muslim, to him.
“Islam forbids us from touching women, so how can they rape them?” Said Mounir, who earns his living with difficulty, “I get nothing out of either party except a terrible life, “Mounir, who has four sisters and one brother, said. His father, Ahmed, 49, was kidnapped by Israeli soldiers in December 2023 and they have not heard from him. Ahmed used to go deep into Israel and work there in construction businesses.” This is the only thing that gives excellent income,” Mounir explained.
“I don’t know if he’s (father) still alive. They took him from us when we were in a school inside Khan Yunis last December. The Red Cross informed me recently that he was killed by the IDF. I remember the day they took him and threw white phosphorus at us, and they say it is internationally prohibited,” he said.
“His family was displaced from Deir al-Balah to Mawasi Khan Yunis. “There is a car that was bombed next to me. I am trying to dig to remove it, but to no avail,” he said. “The Red Cross told me that my father has been executed, he said.”
He considers himself a Palestinian and not an Arab. I get nothing out of either party except a terrible life, he said. “Mounir has a few Christian friends. The war has taken a toll on Mounir, both, mentally and physically. “I don’t follow the teenage movements,” he stated. “I consider myself unfit to do teenage things. I am in a place where I have to respect everyone for their suffering. For example, I cannot laugh in front of someone who lost his family. There are a lot of them,” he added.
“Yes, my grandmother, 78, died too. Indeed, she is older than Israel.” His mother, 38 remains worried and alone crying for his father.” He lives with his family in one tent. Food, health, education and housing all are an issue now. His house was attacked by a bomb that fortunately did not explode.
Mounir is an accounting student. He is not in school anymore. Schools are becoming unsafe, “There is not enough food. We eat a meal every day. We feel hungry sometimes, but we try to bear it,” he said.
Mounir left his girlfriend due to the war. “After the war, I will leave Gaza and get married abroad. He plans to go to America or Europe for a decent life. “I don’t like Israel…. I don’t like Hamas. I love justice, a life without war,” he said. He never feels sleepy and guards the tent at night with his brother. “I stay up all night so my family is safe. There is no safe place in Gaza. A few days ago, my grandfather, 78, was seriously injured due to the bombing of the tents of the displaced people in the Qadisiyah site. My grandfather is older than the Zionist occupation. He was displaced in 1948 and 2023,” Mounir added.
Although Hamas wants a separate Palestinian state, others like Late President Jimmy Carter in his book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” referred to Israel as an apartheid state because the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with the establishment of Jewish-only roads, Jewish-only settlements, and other segregation policies resemble the old South African system.
Also Read: ‘We will strike Houthis’ just as we did to ‘Haniyeh’: Israel confirms killing Hamas leader
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