Aisha Abu Awwad, 57, sits gently and embraces her three-month-old granddaughter in front of a ruined tent that used to be her family's home in the village of Hamsa al-Fawqa, before the Israeli occupation forces demolished it.
As the cold winter winds intensified and the storm approached, Aisha and her granddaughter could only wait in the open until the family could set up a new tent to protect them from the bitter cold of winter.
This is how the British Middle East Eye website launched a report highlighting the difficult humanitarian conditions experienced by 11 Palestinian families. The Israeli occupation demolished their homes and tents in the village of Khirbet Hamsa al-Fawqa in the northern Palestinian valleys, on the borders of the West Bank with Jordan.
The Israeli authorities completely demolished the village, which includes about 70 shelters and tents, over a period of 3 days last week, leaving its 80 residents, half of them children, in the open.
The occupation dismantles the homes and facilities of the people of Homs in one of the largest displacement operations of the residents of the Jordan Valley (Al-Jazeera)
"The village has turned into rubble. The Israeli army came and destroyed all our homes and tents. We are now in the open, between the ground and the sky," says Aisha, who moves with difficulty due to her back pain that intensifies with the cold.
She also expressed to the British site her fear for her families consisting of 4 children and 8 grandchildren, the eldest of whom is not yet six years old, and said, “I am very afraid for these children, as we are unable to provide them with safety today, or even protect them from the cold. We have no alternative but to stay here. On our land. They will continue to demolish, and we will continue to build and stand firm here. "
The site indicates that the village of Homsa al-Fawqa was previously demolished 11 times by the Israeli occupation forces, and the demolition was before the last at the beginning of November of last year, but the residents rebuilt their homes, so that the occupation demolished them again last week.
The "Middle East Eye" report depicts the scene of children playing in the rubble of the destroyed homes and tents of the village, indifferent to the lightning that began to crack the sky, the gusty winds and the raindrops that began to fall, heralding the difficult night that awaits them and their families who are now homeless.
An Israeli soldier supervises the confiscation of housing structures for the people of Homs in the northern Palestinian valleys (Al-Jazeera)
As the storm strikes, Amal Abu al-Kabash, 25, rushes to collect some blankets and hide them under the rubble of his family’s destroyed tent. “They are trying to make life difficult for us and besiege us from all sides. Life here has become almost impossible, but despite all that, we will continue to survive. Here".
“My family of 18 is out in the open today. We no longer have a tent that brings us together and protects us from the cold. Since demolishing our homes, the Israeli army has set up roadblocks in the city,” said Mohammed Abu Awad, 52, who looked tired, sad and angry as he wandered through the destroyed tents. The area around Homs al-Fawqa, which prevented water tanks and tents from reaching us, and they confiscated the things that we tried to bring. "
Abu Awad confirmed that Israel intends to completely evacuate Humsa al-Fouqa - whose area exceeds 60 square kilometers - from its Palestinian residents, in order to be able to build Israeli settlements on it.