Ahmad a-Dirawi

A 34-year-old married father of three children between the ages of one and six, from Deir al-Balah

My wife and I lived in our family’s building in Deir al-Balah, about 250 meters away from Shuhadaa al-Aqssa Hospital. We lived on the second floor with our three children, ‘Issam (6), Leen (3) and Tala (1). My aunt lived across from us with her three kids. My two uncles and their families and my parents lived below us. My two brothers and their families lived above us, and there was another apartment on that floor for one of my cousins after he got married.  

On the morning of 9 May 2023, an Israeli attack began against the Gaza Strip. My wife and I were at home with our kids, and we followed the news on social media. That night, several senior Islamic Jihad operatives were killed.   

On 12 May 2023, at around 7:00 P.M., I got a call from an unknown number. The name on the Truecaller app was “Aunt Amneh.” I answered, even though I don’t have an aunt by that name. The person on the other end of the line introduced himself in Arabic as “Abu Yusef from the Israeli Defense Forces.” He asked if my name was Ahmad a-Dirawi, and I said yes, and then he told me not to stress out, but they were about to bomb our neighbor Yihya Abu ‘Ubeid’s house, which is a few meters north of our home. He said everyone had to evacuate our building and instructed me to go to the Abu ‘Ubeid home and let them and all their neighbors know to evacuate and to stay on the line with him while doing so. I was very scared and anxious. I told my wife to get the kids out of the building quickly and to get far away from it, and then I went to my brothers’, uncles’, and parents’ apartments and told everyone to get out quickly.   

This whole time, the Israeli officer was still on the line with me. I told him it would take me time to get to the Abu ‘Ubeid house, and he told me he’d already called his nephew, who lived nearby and told him to tell the family to evacuate. And then, from our window, I saw the family leaving their home. In our building, the atmosphere was fearful, and the women and children screamed in panic. About ten minutes after the officer called me, I left my apartment, while he was still on the line with me, and knocked again on everyone’s doors and shouted loudly to make sure everyone had left. The officer instructed me to tell everyone to go 100 meters to the west, and then the call disconnected. We all went, together with some other neighbors who were fleeing, to a house farther away and waited there.   

At around 8:30 P.M., I went out to the street and stood there with a few other neighbors, while observation airplanes flew over us non-stop. Two minutes after I went out, there was a strong explosion. After about two more minutes, a fighter jet passed over us, and then there was an even stronger explosion that shook the whole area. Glass shattered everywhere, and pieces torn off of buildings and rocks flew in the air all over the place. The children were outside with me, screaming in fear.   

I went back home, and the house looked like there had been an earthquake. It was totally destroyed, especially the walls on the northern side, which face the building that had been bombed. Abu ‘Ubeid’s home was reduced to rubble, and other houses in the area sustained serious damage. The water and electricity lines in the neighborhood were also damaged.   

Since the bombing, my parents, siblings and I have been renting apartments in the al-Hilal building that belongs to the Deir al-Balah municipality. We pay 400 NIS [~100 USD] in rent a month, not including water and electricity. My aunts, uncles and cousins who lived with us in the building rented apartments in other buildings in the area.   

Our family is now completely torn apart. We’d always lived next to each other. My wife and I had lived in our apartment for seven years. We’d put everything we had into it. Over the years, we put about 35,000 NIS [~9,700 USD] into it. I was surprised that the apartment took such serious damage, as if the apartment itself were the target of the Israeli army’s bombing.   

* Testimony given to B'Tselem Field Researcher Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 29 May 2023.

 

 

Read more testimonies of residents of the Gaza Strip whose homes were damaged in Israeli strikes in August 2022 or May 2023:

Rula a-Z’anin	Muhammad Sarsur	Muhammad Sarsur	Yusef Filfel	Muhammad Abu Harbid