Residents of the Ein Beit Alma refugee camp began to pick up the pieces after
an intense Israeli military incursion last week left dozens homeless, and many
very frightened, especially children. The fighting with Palestinian militants
also caused damage to sewer systems, residents said.
Muhammed Msaimi, aged 26, hid for over a day with his wife and three children in
the bathroom because of gunfights which took place outside their apartment.
However, the bullets found their way into that room as well, and they crawled
behind a thick wall, Msaimi, a registered refugee, said.
"Then the soldiers came and told us to leave. They said we should cover our
ears. They blew up the floor above us. No one lives there," he told IRIN. The
explosion knocked out the entire upper floor and caused structural damage to the
rest of the building. Msaimi now lives with his in-laws.
The Israeli military said the purpose of the three-day operation was to "prevent
the execution of terror attacks into the Israeli home front," and that
information obtained from arrested alleged militants, 49 in all, had led them to
an explosive belt which had been smuggled into Tel Aviv.
Fear
However, the effect on the civilian population was considerable, residents said.
"My children are afraid to come back here," said Msaimi, adding that they were
staying at a friend's home nearby.
"The effects of these military operations at such close quarters have an
incalculable impact on the well-being of the young," said Christopher Gunness
from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The agency runs psycho-social programs and has counsellors at its two camp
schools.
"The children are not studying now; they are frightened. They go to school and
draw, color and read stories," said Samia Abu Salah, whose children attend UNRWA
schools and are taking part in a program which tries to help the children
express their feelings.
Her home was invaded by the military: "We heard noises from below our bedroom.
It was the Jews underneath," she recounted, referring to the Israeli soldiers.
"We all moved away, into the stairwell. Then we saw them coming out of the
floor, from below," Abu Salah said. The soldiers had blown up the apartment
below, knocking a hole in the ceiling and were climbing upwards.
Gunness said UNRWA can offer limited financial support for those who lost their
homes or suffered damage.
"Through walls" tactic
According to the residents in other homes a similar tactic, known as "through
walls," was used. Soldiers go through neighbors' homes, destroying joint walls,
to reach targets without being exposed in the narrow streets.
The building next to Abu Salah, four stories high, was totally demolished by
Israeli bulldozers, leaving dozens homeless. Personal belongings like furniture,
video tapes and clothes stick out of the rubble. The soldiers, searching for and
fighting militants, did not give the residents time to get their possessions
out, residents said.
Several people said the soldiers used three locals as human shields, a practice
deemed illegal by Israel's High Court. The Israeli military said it was "not
aware of any such incident."
In other areas, people were cordoned off while soldiers used their homes as
observation points, residents said.
"My brother had 71 people in his house -- the women in one room and the men in
another -- for two days," said Ghassan, a school teacher. "They used all their
food in one day but received bread from the Palestinian Medical Relief on the
second."
"The noises during the fighting hurt my ears so much," said Aisha, aged 74, as
she sat on the floor preparing soup from UNRWA food aid.
Sewage pipes damaged during the fighting overflow outside her small home,
spreading a foul smell in the air.
"The windows are broken. I hope they fix it before winter. It's getting cold now
at night," she said.
Source: electronic
Intifada
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