DaysofPal- The Palestinian citizen Mohammed Sa’da, 57 years old, was driving the stakes of his tent into the rubble of his home in Jabalia Camp—his house was reduced to “piles of stones” by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during the recent military operation that lasted over a hundred days.
Yet, he could not leave the place where he had grown up since childhood.
Sa’da, originally from Jabalia Camp in northern Gaza, paid no heed to the golden rays of the sun as he raced against time to set up the tent that would serve as a shelter for him and his seven-member family.
The scene reflected his deep-rooted connection to his home and the camp, despite the massive destruction.
After IOF withdrew from northern Gaza following a military operation that spanned more than a hundred days, and in the wake of a ceasefire agreement that took effect a week ago, Sa’da hurriedly made his way back, hoping to find his home.
But that hope quickly faded when he found nothing but heaps of rubble stacked upon each other.
With a lump in his throat and his voice barely audible, Sa’da recounts: “The destruction of the three-story house, completely, was a shocking and violent sight. The occupation destroyed all of Jabalia Camp, including my house, which was built with great effort and hardship. In just a few days, they demolished it and made it uninhabitable.”
He forces himself to continue, saying, “Despite the wounds, tragedy, and the difficult circumstances we are going through, we will stay in the camp and will not abandon it, no matter the cost.” He points out that this house had sheltered four families.
He adds, “I will live in a tent on the rubble of my house with my family, and I will not leave, even though we don’t have the most necessities for a dignified life, such as drinking water or water for human use.”
On October 5, 2024, the occupation launched a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip, specifically in Jabalia Camp, Beit Lahia, its project, and Beit Hanoun.
The Israeli operation included massive demolitions of wide residential blocks using “mechanical robots” and “explosive plastic cubes,” resulting in more than 5,000 martyrs and missing persons and 9,500 others injured, according to the government’s media office.
Since the beginning of the genocide war on October 7, 2023, Sa’da has endured various forms of suffering. Shells fell continuously in his residential area and others hit homes close by.
He was forced to flee Jabalia four times, with the latest displacement being to the Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City in October 2024, coinciding with the latest Israeli military operation, as he explained.
Sa’da also experienced the pain of loss. His son, Abdul Fattah, aged 27, was martyred on January 18, 2024, after an Israeli tank fired a shell at him in the al-Tuwam area, northwest of Gaza City, instantly killing him.
Sa’da recounts: “Abdul Fattah went with his cousins to search for their brother, whose whereabouts had been unknown since that day. When they arrived at the al-Tuwam area, the Israeli tank stationed west of Gaza City at the time fired a shell that took his life.”
Sa’da was overwhelmed by both the loss and the destruction of his home. Despite all the agony he felt, he appeared resilient and even stronger.
The ceasefire agreement came into effect on January 19, ending 471 days of genocide war, which had been waged by the Israeli occupation, during which it spared neither human nor stone nor tree.
On October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation launched a genocidal war against Gaza, leaving more than 157,000 martyrs and wounded, the majority of whom were women and children. Over 11,000 people went missing, in addition to the immense destruction that affected all vital sectors.
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