we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Killed for fixing water pipes

The Israeli occupation destroyed Gaza’s public water works and killed my father’s colleagues as they repaired pipes.
young woman, Reem Sleem.
Reem Sleem
  • Gaza Strip
  • Diaspora

 

Pipes inside water treatment facility.
The water purification facility of the Khan Younis Water Authority. Photo: Muhammad Sabah, B’Tselem. Creative Commons 4.0

 

My father worked as an employee in the Gaza municipality, but he did not expect that his only source of work would evaporate in an instant. He also lost many of his co-workers as a result of being targeted by the Israeli occupation.

The occupation has not been limited to destroying homes; it has ruined much of the vital facilities and infrastructure within the Gaza Strip: hospitals, health clinics, schools, universities, roads, and even trees. It has spread destruction throughout the sector.

This is expected from a brutal occupation.

But also targeting public works employees who help people and try to provide services to them?

Martyred while serving the community

Poster of five municipal workers killed in Israeli airstrike, with Arabic text.
Martyr poster for the Gaza municipality works who were killed June 21, 2024. Source: Gaza Municipality

One day, my father’s friends visited us after several months of war to check on our condition. We received them in a guest room and served them what food we had (only a few canned goods due to the lack of food in the market due to the siege). They sat and talked, hoping that the war would end, as there were always new negotiations.

They were talking about their work in the municipality and their plan to help people by providing the necessary services and repairing what was damaged by the occupation. My father was happy to have them in his house and we were happy for him, too.

However, after several days had passed, on June 21, 2024, my father received the news: All his friends had been martyred during a mission in the Gaza municipality.

This is what happened to my father’s friends. One day, the people of one of the areas complained about the lack of water, and this complaint was repeated several times, which led the municipality to send out a maintenance team.

The team consisted of five men, friends of my father, and they immediately headed to the afflicted area despite the heavy bombardment and artillery that did not stop. When they got there, they found that all the water pipes were completely destroyed due to the intensity of the bombing.

They quickly started working to repair those pipes. But while they were doing the work, they were targeted by Israeli occupation missiles. They all died, and all that remained of them were their scattered body parts and their burned vehicle.

They sacrificed their lives in order to help the people, but it was no longer possible to deliver water to the places where displaced people were living, due to the complete destruction of the infrastructure.

It was as if the aggressor was sending a hidden message: We will deprive you of even water, the basic element of life, and we will turn the Gaza Strip into a barren, unlivable desert.

Targeting other service providers

In addition to this attack on municipal workers, the occupation has targeted rescue teams, such as paramedics and medical crews, as they rush to help injured people or pull victims out from under the rubble.

These workers do not know that while their bodies will be scattered, their souls will ascend to heaven for carrying out their humanitarian missions.

Rescue workers digging in rubble in Gaza.
A rescue team working to retrieve people buried in rubble. Photo circulating on social media

The Israeli occupation forces are also targeting humanitarian aid workers. Here’s one example: Facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) headed to the north of the Strip to rescue people from their hunger and distribute daily meals to them. WCK is a nonprofit, nongovernmental civic charity organization based in the United States. It was the main source of salvation from famine for the people of the north.

On April 1, 2024, a team was leaving the city of Deir Al-Balah in a three-car convoy after unloading in a warehouse 100 tons of food aid that had been brought to Gaza via the sea route. Despite the fact that the Israeli army approved and coordinated the movement of these vehicles, it fired three missiles that hit the cars one after the other, causing the death of seven relief workers. These were citizens from Poland, Britain, Palestine, and Australia; one was a dual U.S./Canadian citizen.

After that, the WCK discontinued operations for more than two months.

How will we face the coming days?

My father lost his only source of livelihood, and he lost his friends with whom he had worked for more than 20 years. He had nothing left to help him continue life and provide a living for us. I do not know how we will face the coming days while hunger is knocking on our doors and poverty is eating away at our bones.

Doug Thorpe.
Mentor: Doug Thorpe

recent

subscribe

get weekly emails with links to new content plus news about WANN