Deir el-Balah, Gaza – A yr of conflict, displacement and horror has not made the folks of Gaza overlook the properties they needed to go away behind to avoid wasting their households from relentless Israeli bombing.
Al Jazeera spoke to 3 girls now dwelling in a refugee camp close to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah. They fled with their households, however they held on to the one object that unites all Palestinians disadvantaged of their properties and lands: the keys to their homes.
Now not the big iron keys that their ancestors took with them after they have been ethnically cleansed within the Nakba of 1948, these small, fashionable keys are as vital as ever to a dispossessed folks.
Abeer
Abeer al-Salibi, 37, lives within the overcrowded Deir el-Balah displaced individuals camp and nonetheless carries the important thing to his home, though it’s now in ruins.
She, her husband and their seven youngsters stay in a tent, removed from the home they constructed throughout 17 years of arduous work.
He desires of a house, a modest home with a small backyard in al-Karama, north of Gaza Metropolis.
“We solely lived in it for 3 years earlier than it was [bombed] final October,” Abeer recalled. “The one factor left is that this key.”
Since being pressured from their residence, the household has been displaced 5 occasions: Nuseirat to Rafah, then to Khan Younis and at last now to Deir el-Balah.
“House is life. I miss my life. I miss the easy routine of waking up my youngsters for varsity and welcoming them,” Abeer mentioned with a delicate smile.
He desires of returning, even when which means dwelling within the ruins of what was as soon as his residence.
“I’ll arrange a tent among the many rubble if needed. We are going to rebuild. The vital factor is to return.”
wafaa
Wafaa Sharaf, 20, had solely been married for six months when conflict broke out, derailing the desires she had together with her husband of 20 years, Islam.
Pregnant together with her first little one, she was pressured to flee her residence in as-Saftawi, north of Gaza Metropolis, in November.
Islam had lovingly ready a small condominium on the highest ground of his father’s home for the couple to stay in.
“It was not more than 60 sq. meters (646 sq. ft), however to me it was heaven,” Wafaa mentioned.
“We had been planning the child’s room and my mom had ready garments for the new child. We go away the whole lot behind once we flee.
“I did not wish to go away the home. My soul was nonetheless tied to it,” Wafaa mentioned. “However when the shells began falling… we had no selection.”
She gave delivery to her daughter Leen within the overcrowded camp in January, throughout one in every of Gaza’s coldest winters.
The couple doesn’t know what occurred to their home, primarily based on second- or third-hand accounts from individuals who had seen it.
Anyway, Wafaa solely has one want: “To return to my home. “I do not need the rest.”
hiba
Hiba al-Hindawi, a 29-year-old mom of three, says that if she may do it yet again, she would by no means have left residence.
“I ignored of concern for my youngsters and myself. The bombardment was relentless.”
She needs she had taken extra from the home, treasured objects like her marriage ceremony photographs and photographs of her youngsters after they have been little.
“It is throughout now,” he mentioned quietly.
Wanting again, he acknowledges the on a regular basis luxuries of getting a fridge, a washer, and beds.
“I simply want I may wash my fingers from the faucet or use the lavatory like regular. “It looks as if we have been taken again to the Stone Age.”
Greater than something, she simply desires the conflict to finish.
“I need this Nakba to cease,” she mentioned desperately.
Sooner or later, she mentioned, she is going to inform her grandchildren concerning the horrors of the conflict she and her youngsters are experiencing.
“If we survive, I am going to inform you what we noticed,” he mentioned.