World
Gaza school shelters are attempting to prevent Hamas and other groups from entering due to concerns about airstrikes
Residents, already forced to flee their homes by intense bombardment, want to avoid becoming a target for Israeli forces hunting Hamas.
Updated 2024-Oct-05 19:34
A girl watches people walking around the debris-strewn courtyard of a damaged school building.
A school complex in the northern part of Gaza City was struck last month resulting in aftermath. He found the attack on the school he was at to be frightening.
He questioned whether Israel was battling the Palestinians or Hamas. We have endured sufficient pain and death.
There is an adequate amount of death within our midst. Israel’s recent strikes on schools have heightened the suffering and fear for residents especially since the attacks are often unexpected.
Mai Riyad al Basyouni 22 lived with her family at a government school in Deir al Balah. Women and children who typically stay indoors are particularly vulnerable to the airstrikes while men are usually out at markets.
Al Basyouni who has been at the school for nine months expressed a desire to leave due to the bombings but is unable to afford alternative accommodation.
When the war forced Nasser al Zaanin to flee his home in northern Gaza in October he along with his adult sons and grandchildren moved to a school that had been turned into a shelter.
There at the Abdul Kareem al Aklouk school in the town of Deir al Balah he helped set up a system of committees to improve life for families who had taken refuge.
The committees oversaw food water and medical needs and they had one red line: No armed men were allowed in the compound.
Residents already forced to evacuate their homes because of Israel’s intense bombardment wanted to avoid becoming a target for Israeli forces hunting down Hamas militants.
Every few days in recent weeks Israel has hit a school building turned shelter where it has said militants are hiding including on Saturday when it struck two compounds in northern Gaza that it said Hamas was using as a military base.
Early in the conflict Mr. Zaanin said Hamas had wanted to station police officers at the shelter where he was staying.
The group said it would ensure security but he said the residents had gathered to stop that. All the families agreed said Mr.Zaanin 56 who once worked as a civil servant for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. We simply want to save all families women and children and not let there be any potential threat against us because of the existence of police and members of the Hamas government he said.
The police Mr. Al Zaanin added could stand outside the building but not inside. Several other residents of school shelters in central Gaza recounted similar stories though attitudes in other areas were unknown.
It is hard to know how widespread the phenomenon is and whether the armed militia are from Hamas Islamic Jihad or other armed gangs but these residents’ experiences suggest that at least some evacuees have blocked armed militias from moving into these shelters.
Shrapnel was a major concern for her as she believed it could easily puncture her tent. The constant targeting of schools only adds to my daily misery stress and trauma she expressed.
Mohammed Shehda al Obwaini 57 used to reside in a school shelter near Deir al Balah but vacated after it was attacked recently.
Now he has set up a tent for his family close to a soccer field. Due to the war in Gaza formal education has been halted and numerous schools have been converted into shelters.
The shelters have been crucial in Gaza as it has been devastated by over 10 months of conflict. The majority of the 2.2 million residents in the enclave have left their homes with some claiming they have had to relocate up to 10 times frequently against their will.
