Mohammad Matar worked for years building pipelines that transported water across the Gaza Strip – from northern Beit Lahia to southern Rafah. Now he hardly has access to water himself.
Mr. Matar, a 35-year-old civil engineer, was reached by phone Thursday evening in Gaza City, where he and his family have chosen to remain even as Israeli ground forces continue their brutal assault on Hamas.
In a city increasingly cut off from the rest of the world, Mr. Matar described days filled with despair and fear.
“I’ve seen a lot of horror movies, but never a horror movie like this,” he said. “I’m sure what you see on TV is less than 5 percent of what we experience.”
Mr. Matar says his family, like many in Gaza, is facing food shortages. They haven’t had any vegetables in almost eight days and he can’t remember the last time he ate chicken or meat. On most days, his family cooks instant noodles over charcoal, and while one box typically lasts a week, he rations so that each box lasts up to 20 days.
“We are trying to keep what we have until the situation changes – until this sad story is over,” Mr Matar said.
The Israeli military has for weeks ordered residents of northern Gaza to leave for their protection, warning that those who do not “may be considered members of a terrorist organization.” According to UNRWA, the UN agency that helps Palestinians, an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 residents have fled south on foot just this past week as Israel began introducing daily fighting breaks.
Videos posted on social media by the Israeli Defense Forces show families, some with their hands up, along a main road as Israeli soldiers keep an eye on them behind military vehicles.
But after they flee, they remain vulnerable, said UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma. “This assumption that the south is safe is not correct,” she said in an interview, calling the Israeli order “forced relocation” that left large numbers of people walking south, “dehydrated, exhausted and fearful.”
“There is no safe place anywhere in Gaza,” Ms. Touma said.
Due to limited communications and disruptions in aid delivery, Ms Touma said it was impossible to estimate how many residents remained in Gaza City, adding that the north had become “the most dangerous area on earth”.
As Israeli forces engage in street battles with Hamas and their brutal attacks sweep over more of the city, Mr. Matar and his family have remained.
“This is our destiny,” he said. “But we hope that God will change the situation.”
For ten years, Mr. Matar worked on water infrastructure projects for Saqqa and Khoudary Contracting, a Palestinian construction company based in the West Bank. He said his projects, including building water tanks and associated distribution systems, have now been destroyed and estimated it would take months to a year to restore water to the Gaza Strip when the fighting ends.
As for now, he said, “You are privileged if you can find water to wash your hands or face.”
On Friday, UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said Israel’s siege of Gaza – which has limited access to food, water, medicine and fuel for the two million residents trapped in the enclave – had the potential to be a “to cause a much greater catastrophe.” ”, including famine.
There is no fuel to run Gaza’s underground pumps. And because there are no bottled water available in the stores, Mr. Matar has to rely on the reserves of his neighbors.
“I just take some buckets and have them fill them with water for me,” he said. “We don’t even know if this water is healthy or not.”
Besides the fear of thirst and hunger, Mr. Matar worries most about the physical safety of his wife and two daughters, ages 3 and 8, who cling to his side amid the stream of explosions. He tries to distract them with games and laughter, even if only temporarily.
“When she hears the rockets in her sleep, my three-year-old jumps,” Mr. Matar said. “She asked me, ‘Why is this happening?’ But what can I say?”
Mr. Matar has trouble falling asleep on his own these days because he isn’t sure if he will wake up the next morning.
“I sit and pray with my wife all the time,” he said. “What is happening is more than abnormal.”
He added: “I want this article to reach people who have the power to stop this war.”
Abeer Pamuk contributed from San Francisco.