Netanyahu’s plan to deprive and rule in Gaza will fail again

From October 2023 to January 2025, Benjamin Netanyahu managed to displace astir 1.9 cardinal Palestinians – astir each of the colonisation of Gaza. He indispensable beryllium proud. The Israeli premier curate tin present spell down successful the Guinness Book of Records arsenic the antheral who single-handedly displaced the astir radical wrong the smallest territory.

I, myself, americium 1 of these 1.9 million. I was displaced twice: the archetypal clip astatine the opening of the genocidal warfare and past again a twelvemonth later.

Many Palestinian families were displaced repeatedly, immoderate 10 times oregon more.

It was a wide strategy by Netanyahu to disagreement us. The northbound was chopped disconnected from the south. “Northerners” were forcibly expelled to the south. Then “southerners” and the different displaced were forced to determination to the centre.

But this was not capable for him. The Israeli premier curate authorised a large-scale run to hitch retired lodging crossed the Gaza Strip, particularly successful the northbound and south. He besides ordered the blocking of humanitarian assistance to starve us.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 92 percent of homes successful the Gaza Strip, oregon astir 436,000 structures, were destroyed oregon damaged arsenic a effect of the Israeli aggression. According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Israeli service has not stopped demolishing homes successful Rafah passim the ceasefire.

According to the World Food Programme, arsenic of January, much than 2 cardinal radical were afloat babelike connected nutrient assistance, and hundreds of thousands were facing “catastrophic levels of nutrient insecurity”.

Netanyahu has present ordered each humanitarian assistance to beryllium chopped disconnected again and is readying to forcibly expel Palestinians from the northbound to the southbound erstwhile again.

His purpose is clear: to teardrop isolated communities, to abstracted and weaken us, to crook america against each different done utmost deprivation. But his strategy failed successful the past 16 months, and it volition neglect again.

In the look of a genocidal war, the radical of Gaza showed immense solidarity with each other. Whoever had a location lasting would unfastened it to structure the displaced, including their families, friends, neighbours and adjacent strangers. Whoever had immoderate nutrient would besides share.

When we were nether siege successful our neighbourhood, Sheikh Radwan, successful December 2023, we utilized to propulsion h2o bottles done the windows to our neighbour and his girl to marque definite they had thing to drink. We besides provided nutrient to different radical successful request by throwing it implicit the partition separating our location from different homes.

During our 2nd displacement, a person of my father’s opened his location for america successful the south, and we remained determination for 4 months.

On January 15 erstwhile the ceasefire was announced, the radical of Gaza won against Netanyahu and his strategy of “divide and rule”. Four days later, immoderate of the displaced from Rafah were capable to spell back.

Then connected January 27 came the “big return”. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians headed backmost to the north.

For the bulk of the displaced, “return” meant discovering homelessness. People walked agelong distances connected ft conscionable to find their houses damaged oregon destroyed. The connection we usage to picture wrecked homes successful Gaza close present is “biscuit” – a location smashed level similar a biscuit.

The stateless returnees had fewer options: to spell to schools turned into shelters, to transportation a structure successful unfastened spaces oregon adjacent to the rubble of their homes, oregon to effort to repair immoderate lasting walls into a surviving space.

Families are suffering successful the dense rain, beardown upwind and cold. Many, portion cleaning, repairing oregon searching successful the rubble to find their belongings, person recovered the bodies of loved ones and dug them retired to hide them.

But adjacent successful the harsh world of homelessness, Palestinians inactive find solidarity.

People stock what small they person of food, h2o and adjacent abstraction successful overcrowded tents. Neighbours enactment unneurotic to repair breached walls and roofs. Some with half-damaged houses connection shelters to those successful need. Volunteers initiate campaigns for distributing nutrient and apparel to schools, shelters and structure camps.

Some younker stitchery regular to navigator successful communal kitchens, ensuring nary 1 is near hungry. People supply affectional enactment done WhatsApp groups and intelligence wellness meetings. At night, families stitchery to stock stories and comfortableness each different to trim the loneliness.

The men of our neighbourhood made a docket to assistance each different successful making shelters successful damaged houses. They helped america enactment up tarps and unafraid them with poles to the crushed and mend walls successful our damaged home. We helped others by providing energy to powerfulness the instrumentality done our hardly functioning star panel.

“Home” is present what astir radical successful Gaza agelong for. It is expected to beryllium a lukewarm spot of saccharine memories you tin flight to erstwhile the satellite becomes excessively overmuch to bear. It is not expected to beryllium a tent, a schoolhouse oregon a destroyed house.

But Palestinians person been present before. Three-quarters of the colonisation of Gaza are refugees oregon descendants of refugees who mislaid their homes successful the Nakba. My ain ancestors were expelled from their homes successful the municipality of al-Majdal.

What Netanyahu and different Israeli leaders similar him look not to recognize is that Gaza is not conscionable a spot for us, it is our home.

However galore times Israel cuts disconnected assistance and attacks, destroying homes and displacing people, we volition rebuild, not by magic, but by our ain solidarity, resilience and the world’s support.

The unity that has been passed from procreation to procreation has built a assemblage that refuses to beryllium erased. This is what volition assistance Gaza emergence again.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.