Gaza Strip 10 August 2006
Mona Shaqqoura, 36, and her children are sit in their room at the school and the school desks appear in the background. They suffer from the shortage of food and furniture, as well as the lack of privacy.
On 3 August, United Nations humanitarian agencies issued a report on the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip after six weeks of Israeli siege. The report noted, “UNRWA is currently sheltering 1,345 people from 289 families in four schools in the northern district of Jabalia. Almost all are refugees, fleeing the relentless shelling of the eastern edge of the neighboring town of Beit Hanoun and the area around the Al Nada housing estate in Beit Lahia. In addition to shelter UNRWA is providing the families with daily food parcels and medical supplies.” The following photostory provides a glimpse into these displaced persons’ difficult lives.
Four schools in the Jabalia refugee camp became refugee shelters after over 1,300 of the residents of the northeast areas (Al-Nada housing project) left their homes because of the Israeli aggression.
Israel occupation troops started artillery shelling empty areas of the eastern Gaza Strip after last year’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. The shelling started to hit houses, obliging their residents to leave, after three Palestinian resistance movements carried out a cross-border operation near at Kerem Shalom crossing on June 25.
Mohammed abu-Udi stands on the rubble of his house after the Israeli occupation troops bulldozed it in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun.
Said Mostafa, 37, father of 6 children, stands at the door of his room in one of the schools that became a shelter in the Jabalia refugee camp. Members of other families appear in the corridor leading to the rooms of the school.
Injured by an artillery shell that landed near his house, Iyad Shaqqoura plays cards with his friends at the door of the room which shelters him and his ten member family after they fled their home in the northeast area of the Gaza Strip.
Children sitting on the school bench reading from a book they took from their house, imagining that they are at schools under normal circumstances.
A mother bathes her daughter using the common bath of the school.
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Motasem A. Dalloul is a freelancer and news producer based in the Gaza Strip
