Last week, in the early morning of May 16, Israeli warplanes destroyed three nearby buildings on this passage. These buildings are home to many residential areas and there are commercial establishments on the streets.

Two of these buildings are only 40 meters away from the shop, where Abdul Malek sells the basic equipment of the restaurant, such as cooking utensils and food display cabinets. He and his extended family live on the floor above the store.

He said that some family members were knocked down by the explosion on the street.

“My family has been traumatized. I have a silent young son [since then],” He says.

“Everyone was screaming and running around. We didn’t know where to go or what to do. Things fell on our heads from the roof.”

The days since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas Take effect Last Friday, Gazans emerged and witnessed the level of damage to streets like Al-Wehda, which made people lament that Gaza has not recovered from the previous war in 2014.

The Israeli military stated that it did not deliberately target civilians and issued a statement saying it had attacked Hamas’ underground infrastructure.

The statement said: “Hamas deliberately placed terrorist infrastructure under civilian houses, putting them in danger.” “The collapse of the underground foundation caused the collapse of civilian houses above it, causing accidental casualties.”

For whatever reason, people’s homes have become their graves.

In one building, 22 extended family members of one family were killed. In addition, Dr. Ayman Abu al-Ouf, the head of internal medicine at Shifa Hospital, was killed along with 12 members of his family.

Abu al-Ouf is one of the doctors leading the fight against COVID-19 in Gaza City. His parents, wife and two children were also killed. The third child survived, but is now an orphan.

Abdul Malek knew he was lucky. His family (including five sons and four daughters) is safe. He said, but he was still shocked, not angry.

He said: “I don’t know what to do.”

“Imagine you are sitting in one room and your family is in another room. When the explosion happened, I saw them panicking in front of me. They were very scared. I still saw the shock on their faces. I can’t forget this when I come to my room.”

Gazans are known for their resilience. Ahseea Ahmed, the head of the protection and neutrality of Gaza at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, says that this kind of resilience can only go so far.

Ahmed, a Canadian who has worked in other conflict areas including Syria and Afghanistan, said: “At this stage, many people, including me, have difficulty expressing their pain.”

“The intensity of horror and cruelty is raining from the sky, and that feeling is absolutely no one is safe.”

During the 11-day conflict, at least 254 Palestinians, including at least 66 children, were killed; an Israeli soldier and 12 Israeli civilians were killed, including two children, Reuters report this week.

Ahmed said that 56,000 people displaced by the fighting sought asylum in 50 United Nations schools in Gaza, and 8,000 were left homeless.

More than 2 million people live in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip is a narrow sand belt with a height of 41 kilometers by 12 kilometers at its widest point.

The blockade has not stopped weapons

Many Gazans will still say that the periodic wars between Hamas and Israel (four wars have occurred since the end of 2009) are not the hardest part of living there.

Mohammed Tafish is one of them. He described life in Gaza as a “slow death”.

Watch | Assess the damage in Gaza:

The people of Gaza are still assessing the damage caused by several days of rocket exchange between Israeli and Palestinian militants. Last weekend, the ceasefire ended in a ceasefire. 2:42

The day after the ceasefire was announced, the 36-year-old father with two children stopped CBC staff on the street while filming a demonstration of Hamas militants in Gaza City.

He said: “Here, especially in Gaza, the Palestinian people are very poor.” “They die day after day.”

Since 2007, Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip with the help of Egypt, when the radical Islamist organization Hamas seized the power of rival Fatah’s party.

Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent smuggled Iranian weapons and any materials that can be used to make weapons from reaching Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups that have sworn to be destroyed by Israel.

Fourteen years later, Hamas is still trying to obtain weapons or make weapons on its own.

The Palestinians say that at the same time, another generation of Gazans has been condemned to a future without a horizon.

According to aid agencies, the unemployment rate in Gaza is about 50%, and more than 80% of the population depends on aid. “Nothing” is the general restraint of residents.

Israel stated that it withdrew settlements from Gaza in 2005, but still maintained control of all land, borders and sea passages.

Tafish said he also condemned the leaders of Hamas and Fatah for failing to unite, saying that they are more concerned about themselves fighting for power than the Palestinian people.

“I give [the] The two governments will work together. We are used to facing wars. no problem. Bombing is no problem for us. But we need good leaders. “

“Their lives are simply unbearable”

Many people on Gaza Street said that they do believe that after years of neglect, this is not only because of the recent fighting, but the world is once again paying attention to the situation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

They said that Palestinian protests against Israeli settler groups’ efforts to expel Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem have continued and have attracted worldwide attention.

Mosheer Amer, professor of linguistics at the Islamic University of Gaza, said: “I am observing the reactions of the world in Canada, Australia, the United States, Europe and the Arab region.”

“Even at the Palestinian level, people are becoming more and more aware that this is a question of the Israelis’ insistence on this occupation.”

Amer’s family originally came from a village near Ashkelon, which is next to the Gaza Strip and is now Israel. They fled to Gaza during the war after Israel declared independence in 1948.

Amer said: “You call it a solution of one state. You call it a solution of five states. I don’t know. But we have to solve these problems.” “People here, Palestinians everywhere, they have Real problems. They have real dissatisfaction. They have problems with occupation. Their lives are unbearable.

“The missing factor in all of this is the lack of sufficient pressure from the international community on Israel.”

Watch | Abdul Raheem (Abdul Raheem) Abdul Malek (Abdul Malek) son Ibrahim (Ibrahim) described an air strike he experienced:

Description: Ibrahim Abdul Malek described a deadly explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike near his home and family in Gaza in the early hours of May 16. 1:41

The name of the Abdul Malek store on Al-Wehda Street in Garra is Ramallah Company, which is an odd number of a store in Gaza because Ramallah is a city in the West Bank occupied by Israel.

But Abdul Malek said that he and his brother chose the name when negotiating the Oslo Agreement in 1993 or 1994, which included the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the late leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Yasser Arafat serves as chairman and is headquartered in Ramallah.

At that time, people still believed that the two-state solution was the best option for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. That was a long time ago.

However, the basic life hopes held by people like Abdul Malek have not changed.

“Should live in peace, smile, and visit our relatives. Don’t hide in the explosion.”

Watch | US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken tries to strengthen the ceasefire:

US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken arrived in the Middle East to establish a crumbling ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but any peace and reconstruction plan in Gaza faces serious challenges on the ground. 2:00