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A cloud of dust rushes through the window of the home of Nasrallah Abu Karsh, a 19-year-old man everyone calls Nas.
Another explosion has just rocked the Shati refugee camp, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, next to the beach.
More than 85,000 people live in it in an area of only 52 square kilometers.
It is May 15;
the fifth day of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, and rescue teams are digging through the rubble to save lives, but all they can do is certify the deaths of 10 members of a Palestinian family who lived in the facility.
Suddenly, nightmarish memories of the 2014 war resurface in Nas.
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The rubble of Gaza
On July 28 of that tragic year, the young man was playing outside with his friends when a sudden explosion blew up part of his neighborhood.
He woke up weeks later in the hospital bed with his body covered in burns.
"Where are my friends?" Was the first thing he asked.
He had been the only one of the 11 who had survived.
When the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza was declared on Friday, May 21, another 66 children had been killed by Israeli bombs out of a total of 243 victims, and 2,000 more people had been injured.
PHOTO GALLERY |
A cry for life on the Strip
The Israeli Army has stated that its target was Hamas fighters, responsible for firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for settler violence in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and at the holy site of Al Aqsa Mosque. . Yet it is the civilians of Gaza who have once again paid the highest price. “It breaks my heart to see children on the street these days. I know what my friends' parents have been through. I have become a kind of son to all of them. Unfortunately, this is life in Gaza. There is no life in Gaza, ”Nas explains.
Young people like Nas have had a hard time dispelling the traumas of war over the years, looking for a reason to live, to resist, to stay alive.
When he met a team of Italian activists building a skatepark in Gaza, Nas discovered something that made him feel that if he belongs somewhere, it is to a broader international culture.
In times of peace, ordinary people spend the afternoon together at the skate park, doing what they like.
“Look at that kid, Yasser,” he says, “he's 10 years old and he comes skating every day.
Before, I had nothing to do.
Now he invests all his energy and passion, and every afternoon he returns home satisfied ”.
It breaks my heart to see children on the street these days.
I know what my friends' parents have been through.
Unfortunately, this is life in Gaza.
In Gaza there is no life
Nas, a young man from Gaza
Of the approximately two million people who live in the strip, 75% are under 25 years of age. A very young society, with few or no career opportunities and a bleak future. Many say they want to leave forever, others are too attached to their family and friends, such as Nas and his friend Alaa al Dali.
In 2018, Al Dali became the best Palestinian sprinter, but his dreams of competing internationally have been cut short: at the Great March of Return protests, he was shot in the leg by a sniper and the bullet nearly disintegrated his leg. bone and damaged muscles, arteries and veins. "I went with my cycling team to express my frustration because they prevented me from exercising as an athlete and to demand the rights that correspond to me like everyone else," he explains. "What happened was that they shot me and had to amputate my leg." Together with his friends and teammates Nedal Shaluf and Ayman Zoroub, the young man has continued to cycle on one leg on Gaza's rugged roads, the longest of which is no more than 35 kilometers. "If I can't go to the Olympics, I'll go to the Paralympic Games",affirms with determination. Although there is no adapted cycling team in Gaza, Al Dali has set out to create one - the Gaza Sunbirds - and look for other injured who want to join him. When he is able to form a group, he hopes to become their coach.
In Gaza there are other Paralympic teams with rosters full of people with congenital disabilities or injuries caused by wars or protests at the border. There are basketball teams, a karate and judo team for the blind, and a soccer team with players who have lost a limb. "The practice of sport is very beneficial for all these people," explains Al Dali. "Playing sports is the best way to regain physical and psychological strength."
Despite the efforts and enthusiasm of the teams, the chances of competing outside of Gaza are slim. In most cases, Israel does not allow people to go out. Those who have the opportunity to leave once often do not return for fear of being trapped in Gaza forever. Many others would simply like to travel to see the world and compete with an international team. This is the case of Jumana Shahin, the first female basketball player in Gaza. Shahin, 25, works occasionally as a freelance translator and journalist, but her frustration has grown over time over the inability to fulfill her dreams. "It is difficult to have a happy and normal life here," he laments. “I have studied my whole life and I cannot do what I am prepared to do. That is why playing on a team is important to all of us.It gives us unity and strength to persist in our daily struggle. It's easy to give up hope at times like this, but we can't allow it to happen. Anyway, we have no other choice. "
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