Colleagues from DRC Palestinian partners share their stories of life under occupation and the past year of horror.
The last year in Gaza has been one of horror. Yet this devastating conflict is the continuation of grim reality shaped by years of Israeli occupation, blockade, and deprivation of fundamental rights for Palestinians.
*Noor, a vital team member of PARC, Agricultural and Development Agency, DRC partner in Gaza shares her story of life under occupation, the horrors of the last year and her message for the world.
Life in Gaza, under siege, was extremely restricted, lacking access to basic necessities and freedom due to the occupation.
*Names have been changed for confidentiality on the case studies.
“Our life was under occupation before. The siege imposed on us and prevented us from moving as individuals to other parts of Palestine. Many materials did not enter the market.
Especially as I worked with farmers, the most unavailable supplies in markets were related to agriculture production, specifically irrigation networks, seeds and medicines, as it was always believed [by Israeli authorities] that many of these materials were dual-use supplies.”
Dual-use items refer to goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Noor had already lived through numerous periods of insecurity, as Gaza has consistently ranked among the most dangerous places for civilians. “Sometimes, during periods of violence, we were afraid and felt insecure. However, despite that, there was a kind of psychological stability and partial security”, she explains.
Since 2011, Gaza has been listed in the top 15 territories most affected by armed violence eight times. Israel’s repeated military escalations have left deep scars. Between 2008 and October 6th, 2023, 5,365 Palestinians were killed and 62,998 injured in Gaza alone, while across the occupied Palestinian territories, 6,377 were killed and 153,340 injured in the same period2.
Despite severe hardships due to Israel’s occupation of Palestine and siege on Gaza, Noor and her family found happiness in daily life before the Israeli bombardment began.
“My life before was a decent and happy life. I have three sons and a daughter. My husband and I both work, and we live in a house full of happiness, joy, understanding, and security.
I was in a job, and I still am, providing services to people, speaking on their behalf, and trying to convey their voices to the world, especially about their suffering, particularly farmers and marginalised and poor women in the rural areas of the Gaza Strip. My life was stable, and it was very beautiful. I hope that life returns.”
Noor’s normality involves suffering under extreme hardships, decades of discrimination and an illegal occupation, yet she and other Palestinians in Gaza display remarkable resilience and an extraordinary ability to find beauty in everyday life.
Yet, the October military offensive brought unprecedented suffering and atrocities that Noor could never have imagined. “I never imagined that my children and I would live through this war. My only nephew, aged 33, was killed before our eyes as we walked the streets.”
The violence that unfolded around Noor was impossible to comprehend. “Many bodies were torn apart, children and women, right in front of my eyes.”
The trauma of these horrific events had a grave impact on Noor. “For three months, I couldn't live normally due to nightmares and fears, and the scene replayed itself, whether in dreams or reality, several times before me,” she recounts, highlighting the severe impact on her mental health.
After two months, Noor had no choice but to flee south with her children and her sister's family. The journey south was a desperate search for safety, a harrowing experience marked by fear and uncertainty.
This situation forced me to flee after two months of being in Gaza city to the south, hoping to find safety and security, but I found none. We walked long distances. We were very anxious as we walked, with the army on the horizon. I was very worried about my children as I walked this long path from Gaza city to the south. This is a tragedy or an event I cannot erase from my memory, and I am unable to erase it.
/ Noor, PARC
The reality of displacement has been bleak, “After having lived in my house, with my trees, and my garden. I live in a tent, in a tent with no means of life. I cannot sleep due to the barking of dogs all night long, alongside the psychological anxiety I live with.”
The trauma and stress of conflict and displacement made work feel impossible for Noor. “I couldn't work at all. I was in a hopeless state, living in depression amidst the scenes I witnessed as I walked through the streets of destruction, people killed, children, and women, so many women and children, and the tents.”
But Noor’s determination to help her community saw her return to work. Despite her personal suffering, Noor continues to work, providing vital services, water, food and psychological support, to displaced families like her own. Noor and her family are in the same dire situation as the families she works to support.
“We try as much as possible to offer these essential services that enable us and families to survive. We try to document and monitor the suffering of all groups. For a year we have survived only on canned food, as have all the families. We have moved to a worse physical and psychological state than one could imagine, and this is my condition,” she says, highlighting that the needs of Palestinian aid workers are the same as the communities they serve.
The scale of displacement is overwhelming. Nearly 2 million people are living in displacement in dire conditions with little access to basic necessities.
"We do not have the minimum requirements for this living. We only eat canned beans or peas, we cannot buy meat, we cannot buy fish, and we cannot buy anything due to its unavailability in the market, and even if it is available, we cannot afford it.
Our life is spent in tattered tents, with sewage inside the tents. Sometimes we are forced to drink salty water due to the lack of fresh water and our inability to buy it. A large number of families have no sources of income,” Noor says, always ensuring to highlight the suffering of others.
The despair Noor feels is evident, “It is as if we have returned to square one in our lives. Square one, we own nothing. The world must understand now that the people of Gaza are oppressed, they own nothing. Our clothes have burned, our spirits have been destroyed, our children have become psychologically ill.”
Through it all, Noor’s message remains consistent, Palestinians, like anyone else, deserve the right to live in dignity.
“For just one minute, look at your children and imagine them as our children, what would you say when faced with this question from your children, 'Why is this happening to us?' Why are we being killed? Why are we being destroyed? Why are we being displaced?’”
/ Noor, PARC
“It is our right, as women, children, and youth, to live like the rest of the people in the world. It is our right to enjoy the basic rights that the world has established in its charters, legislations, and laws. It is our right to live in safety and security. It is our right to learn. It is our right to receive medical treatment. It is our right to live in homes with the minimum level of human dignity.
It is the right of Palestinians to live freely. For seventy-five years, we have been suffering, and now our new journey of suffering has begun.”
The world cannot afford to stand by as international law is trampled, and innocent lives continue to be lost. There must be accountability for the grave violations committed over the past year and beyond.
The world must show families like Noors’ that they have not been abandoned.
