{"id":296199,"date":"2025-06-02T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=296199"},"modified":"2025-05-27T05:07:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T04:07:16","slug":"days-of-terror-in-gazas-block-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/06\/days-of-terror-in-gazas-block-76\/","title":{"rendered":"Days of Terror in Gaza\u2019s \u2018Block 76\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Palestinian boy holding a leaflet dropped by the Israeli army ordering residents to evacuate the Bani Suhaila and Abasan areas in eastern Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 May 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/p><\/div>\n

My family clung to our hometown of Al-Fukhari for as long as we could, until Israel’s evacuation orders and new assault left us with no choice.
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

21 May 2025\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0In Al-Fukhari, my town in southern Gaza, we had known this moment would come since April, when the Israeli army began systematically clearing and leveling the land between Khan Younis and Rafah to create their so-called \u201cMorag Axis<\/a>.\u201d On May 19, the order arrived. With a single stroke of the keyboard, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee stripped our hometown of its name<\/a>, reducing a vibrant agricultural community of 7,000 people into a number on a military grid \u2014 \u201cBlock 76.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our town, once brimming with life and generations of memories, has been lumped with the city of Khan Younis and the nearby towns of Bani Suhaila and Abasan as part of a \u201cdangerous combat zone.\u201d We were told to flee westward, as the army prepares to launch an \u201cunprecedented attack\u201d on \u201cterrorist organizations\u201d supposedly located in the area.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, this renaming \u2014 the second time Al-Fukhari has received evacuation orders during the war \u2014 is no administrative formality; it is an act of dehumanization. It is a way of telling us, \u201cYou are no longer people with homes, histories, or futures, but coordinates in a machinery of destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The past six weeks have been marked by constant tank shelling, airstrikes, and ambulance sirens transporting wounded to the nearby European Hospital. Around 80 percent of the people in our area have already fled to Al-Mawasi, the so-called \u201csafe zone\u201d where, just days ago, Israeli forces killed 25 displaced Palestinians<\/a> sheltering in homes and tents.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n
Palestinians flee from fighting areas in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 21, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Until this morning, my family had hoped to stay in Al-Fukhari and try to maintain some semblance of normal life. But after an airstrike hit a school near our home, we decided to leave for my aunt\u2019s house in the Khan Younis refugee camp, west of the city.<\/p>\n

My brother Muhammad continues providing logistical support to Doctors Without Borders at Nasser Hospital<\/a> west of Khan Younis. Alongside my journalism work, I spend several days each week teaching students who gather at a tent cluster in western Khan Younis that serves as a temporary school.<\/p>\n

Before the war, I worked full-time as a science teacher<\/a> and part-time as a journalist. Now journalism occupies most of my time, though I still try to teach as much as possible in these conditions. Through an educational program run by Rebuilding Alliance<\/a>, a U.S.-based NGO, I work with children who have missed nearly two years of schooling, yet maintain their desire to study. Many come to class hungry and thirsty. Some have lost their parents, siblings or friends. Their mornings begin not with schoolwork, but with searching for food and clean water.<\/p>\n

Several students have told me directly how the conditions affect their learning. \u201cI don\u2019t understand the science material because I\u2019m hungry,\u201d one said to me recently. Another explained, \u201cI\u2019m tired. I came here to rest, to breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n
The writer teaching in a tent classroom in southern Gaza, as part of a program run by U.S.-based NGO Rebuilding Alliance, May 2025. (Ruwaida Amer)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Teaching hungry, exhausted children while they sit on burning sand in sweltering tents without desks, chairs, or proper facilities, mocks the very idea of education. Yet I continue, because their desire to learn is a form of resistance \u2014 and so is my teaching.<\/p>\n

The hospital becomes a target<\/h3>\n

Last Tuesday, May 13, began as normally as any day can in this impossible reality. I extended my teaching hours to free up time for my mother\u2019s urgent spinal surgery scheduled the next morning. My siblings and I planned to accompany her to the European Hospital before dawn to prepare for the procedure.<\/p>\n

Shortly after 6 p.m, as my sister Enas and I sat facing each other on our beds, deafening explosions suddenly shook our neighborhood. I rushed to her bed and hugged her tight, as we screamed uncontrollably. Our mother cried for help from her room and we ran to her, while desperately calling for our father and brother Muhammad, though he was far away at work. The bombing continued for long, terrifying minutes. We were certain the house would collapse on top of us.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n
Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 19, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

These explosions, we later learned, were bunker-buster<\/a> bombs, four striking near Al-Fukhari. When the bombing ceased, we emerged from the house to find chaos: terrified neighbors running through smoke-filled streets, choking on toxic air. \u201cThe bombing is in the European Hospital<\/a>,\u201d someone shouted \u2014 just 300 meters from our home.<\/p>\n

The panic intensified after we learned Israel\u2019s claim that the target of the attack was Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar, and that the operation was ongoing. The bombs had devastated the hospital courtyard and adjacent residential entrance, killing 28. Around 20 more were buried under the Al-Afghani family\u2019s collapsed home.<\/p>\n

My brother, unable to reach us due to a communications blackout, rushed home convinced our neighborhood had been obliterated. That night, we sat at home in shell-shocked silence, but at least we were together.<\/p>\n

The next morning, we went to the European Hospital, unsure if my mother\u2019s surgery would proceed. I was not prepared for the devastation that awaited us: corridors overflowing with patients, medical staff navigating through debris, critical infrastructure in ruins. The damage from last night\u2019s bombing was worse than we\u2019d imagined.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n
Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike outside the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2025. (Hussein Abu Khreis\/Flash90)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When it became clear that the operation had been canceled, we remained in the hospital for another 90 minutes, unsure when it would be safe to head out. Fearing that things would escalate and that we would be trapped in the hospital, we decided to leave \u2014 only to find a large crowd at the gates: neighbors assessing the damage, my sister and uncle arriving to help with my mother\u2019s now-cancelled procedure.<\/p>\n

As we started making our way back home, we saw a bulldozer clearing rubble from yesterday\u2019s attack. As we passed by it, I had a sudden uneasy feeling, and told my mother and brother to take a different route. Five minutes later, we heard two consecutive explosions from the direction of the hospital. We turned to see medical personnel sprinting from the site, saying that Israeli forces targeted the bulldozer we just walked by.<\/p>\n

Since May 13, we\u2019ve lived in a state of relentless fear and anxiety. Our neighborhood\u2019s streets lie in ruins; even the local supermarket was hit. With Israel\u2019s \u201cGideon\u2019s Chariots<\/a>\u201d operation advancing nearby, we monitor developments closely, as we know that even outside of Al-Fukhari we are not safe. These are undoubtedly the war\u2019s worst days yet \u2014 and we have no idea what horrors tomorrow may bring.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ruwaida Amer is a freelance journalist from Khan Younis.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Go to Original – 972mag.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 May 2025\u00a0–\u00a0My family clung to our hometown of Al-Fukhari for as long as we could, until Israel’s evacuation orders and new assault left us with no choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":296201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[3287,1559,1854,101,100,1199,87,865,88,2416,771,427,2897,880,99,70,965],"class_list":["post-296199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-anti-zionism","tag-collective-punishment","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-cultural-violence","tag-direct-violence","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-nakba","tag-palestine","tag-sociocide","tag-state-terrorism","tag-structural-violence","tag-usa","tag-war-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296202,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296199\/revisions\/296202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}