Late at night, Israeli planes target the headquarters of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza, and the father scares his two youngsters, Adam and Karam, fearing that they will wake up in panic due to the bombing.

When he approaches them, he notices that they are sleeping.

In a report published by the American Washington Post (Washington Post), Palestinian journalist Hazem Balousha, who lives in Gaza City, talks about his suffering as a father of two children in the Gaza Strip, under a double siege due to the occupation and the pandemic.

The writer says that the residents of the Gaza Strip have been trapped for years between the Mediterranean Sea on the one hand, and the Israeli army on the other hand, and a new blockade has been imposed on them due to the application of home quarantine two weeks ago to contain the Corona virus, and because of the Israeli night raids that have continued for 20 days.

The mandatory quarantine was imposed after the increase in the number of cases of virus infection, after the number remained stable for a long time and did not exceed 100 cases, all of them were imported cases and were subject to mandatory quarantine. On August 24, the first local cases were announced in Maghazi Camp, so Gaza would be subjected to complete closure at night. Itself.

Since then, the sector has recorded more than 1,400 local injuries.

Can I protect my child?

In such circumstances, the writer wonders if he can protect his two children, Adam and Karam, and provide them with a decent life in besieged Gaza, which is living in the midst of a continuous escalation between Israel on the one hand, and Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian factions on the other hand.

Posted by Hazem Balousha on

Power outage

The author believes that he is among the fortunate residents of the Gaza Strip because he owns a solar energy system that provides about 70% of his household needs, while a large number of his neighbors and most of the camp residents in Gaza spend the home quarantine period in almost darkness.

The Israeli occupation army destroyed the main power station in Gaza during the 2006 war. Three weeks ago, Israel cut off fuel shipments for the last power station in Gaza in retaliation for the incendiary balloons launching, and currently Gaza is allowed only 4 hours of electricity per day.

Strict restrictions imposed in the Gaza Strip after the increasing number of people with Corona (European)

Siege and home quarantine

And in light of the siege imposed by the Israeli occupation for years on the residents of the Strip, the best way to "not lose your mind" is to move within what is available, and to meet with others in cafes, mosques or beaches.

But even this communication is no longer possible now due to the Corona pandemic and the home quarantine measures, says the writer Baalousha.

Home quarantine was not imposed on the residents of the Gaza Strip at the beginning of the crisis, and measures were limited to closing restaurants, mosques and churches, and arrivals through the checkpoints were subjected to a 3-week quarantine, and the number of injuries remained low.

After the schools opened in Gaza, the study stopped again due to the emergence of local infection cases in Corona (Al-Jazeera)

Return or no return to school

With the opening of schools in the second week of last August after 5 months of closure, the writer says that his two sons were eager to return, and each hoped to talk to his classmates about what he had accomplished in the past period, as Karam got the yellow belt in karate, and Adam learned his movements New football.

However, within weeks, the study was stopped again due to the emergence of local infections, and the "narrowing" of the population of the Strip, who became trapped between the night air strikes, and the threat of the epidemic that struck them again.

In light of the suspension of studies, his children spend most of their time in video games, and their communication with others is limited to a few hours of entertainment on the Playstation with relatives and friends.

The Internet reveals to the children of Gaza that their lives are different from what children live in the rest of the world (European)

Technology ... a curse for the two children

The writer says that his two sons discover day after day from what they see on the Internet that their lives are completely different from what children live in the rest of the world.

When they long to see their grandmother in the West Bank, planning a visit takes several months to obtain permits from the occupation authorities and sometimes from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and at every checkpoint on the road from Gaza to the West Bank, you may be forced to turn back and cancel the visit.

That is why the writer believes that technology is a curse on his two children, because it opens their eyes to a world different from the siege and deprivation they live in in Gaza from the most basic rights.

Even the beach, which was considered an outlet for the residents of the Strip, has become polluted due to the disruption of treatment plants, which no longer get enough electricity to treat the wastewater that flows into the sea.

Therefore, he felt sad and sad when he had escorted his two sons to the beach days before the imposition of the quarantine, so whenever they wanted to swim in the sea, he was obliged to stop them.

Gaza residents pray to keep their children safe until the blockade imposed on them due to the (European) Corona pandemic ends

A truce and hope that the virus will disappear

In light of the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas shortly after the spread of the virus on a ceasefire brokered by Qatar, the writer says that the residents of the Gaza Strip enjoyed an additional 4 hours of electricity to light their homes in quarantine.

But he confirms that the residents of Gaza know by virtue of experience that this truce will not last for long, and that they can only pray to preserve the safety of their children until the siege imposed on them due to the Corona pandemic ends, so that they return to enjoy some of what is available to them under the Israeli blockade.

Such is the life of a father and his two sons in the Gaza Strip, "a cycle of tension, comfort, despair and joy. They will be happy in the sand, and I will say no to swimming, waiting for the day when I can say yes."