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During his tours through the Gaza Strip this week, Mohammed Zaanoun (37) mainly photographed women and children. Dead women and children. “They make up the majority of the bodies lying along the bombed streets in Gaza,” the Palestinian photographer told Blick in a phone conversation.
The Israeli army has launched an offensive against the organization in response to Hamas attacks. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed and several thousand injured in several Hamas attacks.
Meanwhile, no one in the Gaza Strip has time for funerals. Pure survival demands everything from the 2.3 million people in the coastal strip, half the size of the canton of Glarus. “We have to flee constantly. Rockets are raining from the sky everywhere. Don’t look away, otherwise they will destroy us,” says Zaanoun. The voice of an Al Jazeera presenter blares in the background. Zaanoun listens with one ear. Every piece of information, every piece of news helps bring some order to the deadly chaos of Gaza.
The line remains stationary. Electricity and internet are only available in a few places in the Gaza Strip. The only power plant was closed on Wednesday. At night there is pitch black darkness. But you still couldn’t sleep anymore. “The attacks happen around the clock,” says Zaanoun. During the 30-minute conversation he pauses twice because something explodes somewhere.
Brutal means of pressure against the brutal Hamas
Airstrikes have already killed 950 people in the Gaza Strip this week, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. “I fled here with my four children, near the large Al-Shifa Hospital,” says Zaanoun. His hometown was attacked on Tuesday and his ten-year-old son was wounded in the leg. “We hope that Israel will spare the houses around the hospital.” There are hardly any bomb-proof bunkers in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands are sheltering in schools and hospitals.
But you cannot be safe in these buildings in Gaza, says Zaanoun. “Israel’s attacks not only hit military targets, but also innocent people. Today three doctors were encountered who wanted to help an injured man. In many places, rescue teams can no longer reach the injured due to destroyed roads.
In addition to the bombs, there is now also hunger. Israel, which has sealed off the Gaza Strip for years, currently does not allow water or food into the area. A means of pressure to force Hamas, which rules Gaza, to release the more than 150 hostages.
Where are the hostages?
As understandable as Israel’s response to Hamas terror is, the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are fatal in the eyes of observers. Oliver Diggelmann, professor of public law at the University of Zurich, describes switching off the electricity to SRF as a “war crime” because it could cause innocent people to die in hospitals.
Elizabeth Cossor, Palestine’s representative at the aid organization Terre des Hommes, told Blick: “Under the current conditions and without continued humanitarian aid, the people in the open-air prison in Gaza will not survive.”
In the meantime, Mohammed Zaanoun tries to calm his four children as best he can. And the children and other hostages kidnapped by Hamas? What does he know about her? “Nothing,” he says. “I have no idea where they are or how they are doing. All I know is that it is wrong to attack civilians, both here and in Israel.”
Many want to leave, but the paths are blocked
The radical Islamic Hamas has an estimated 30,000 fighters in its ranks. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip have nothing to do with them. And yet they are now the target of the Israeli counter-offensive. To flee? It does not work. The border crossing with Egypt is closed. Israel currently does not allow anyone from the Gaza Strip to enter the country. What remains is the dangerous escape to the sea.
But Mohammed Zaanoun wants to stay. «I want to show the world with my photos what is happening here. Maybe someone will come and have a look.” If not, Gaza becomes an absolute horror movie.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
