Gaza: The Virus Is More Merciful than Missiles

An Israeli air strike hits a building in Gaza City, Monday, May 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Today is the 11th day of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Around Israel, fighting has broken out in the streets between Jewish right-wing groups, often directed and organized through Whatsapp chats, and Palestinians. Some 4000 rockets have been fired into Israel since May 10. In Gaza, where some two million people live stuck in an indefinite blockade, the crisis has been especially severe. Israeli strikes have destroyed not only homes and offices but 17 hospitals and the only coronavirus laboratory there. Talk of a cease-fire has emerged, but what, exactly, would a cease-fire change in the long-term? 

To offer insight, The Ballot turned to Hazem Balousha, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza City. Balousha writes for The Washington Post, where he has covered young Gazan artists whose art travels while they are confined to the territory, and how the sea, once a rare respite, is now so tainted with sewage and chemicals that it has become another no-go zone. His most recent story, “Parenting Under Fire,” written with Steve Hendrix, describes how parents in Israel and Gaza have been shielding their children from the conflict. In the words of one parent: “Be stable. Distract and engage the children. Let them know they are not alone.”

This conversation was conducted on May 19. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

The Ballot: What are things like right now, where you are?

Hazem Balousha: We are in the 10th day of ongoing bombardment and airstrikes. It started with the targeting of military training sites belonging to the military wing of the factions … then houses and apartments. Four high buildings were completely destroyed in the heart of Gaza City, the main city. In the Gaza Strip of 2 million people, one of the most crowded places in the world, the death toll rose up to 232, over 1600 were injured, including 65 kids and 39 women. [12 people have been killed in Israel by rockets fired from Gaza. These figures were updated Thursday morning.] It is still ongoing. It's all day and night. From time to time, rockets are launched from Palestinian factions into Israeli cities.

Palestinian officials are talking about the hundreds of million dollars lost because of the Israeli strikes; some of the strikes targeted infrastructure across the Gaza Strip. There is a shortage of electricity due to the shortage of fuel. Gaza mainly relies on fuel imported through Israel. And the main commercial crossing has been closed since day one. There are many lines of electricity coming from Israel. Almost half, at least, are out of service, which means 50% of the electricity coming has slowed. Gaza has suffered from [a lack of] electricity for a long time actually. Gazans used to have about 50 to 60% of electricity a day [about 8 hours] before this war. 

Now, it is kind of a half of that half, which affected the supply to water desalination plants. …Wastewater treatment plants as well are affected by the shortage of electricity. Plus farmers are not accessing their farms, most of these farms are close to the border areas where it's dangerous to reach.

So it sounds from what you're saying like there's a risk of significant food shortage?

There is a shortage in some items. ..It's not the same for everywhere across the Gaza Strip. But there are shortages [of certain goods], plus the prices go up because of that shortage as well. 

But between the strikes are people out? Are people staying home? 

In Gaza City, where I go out every day for my work, I see that a few cars are patrolling the streets, some grocery stores are open in some areas, but most of the stores are shut. Yesterday I wanted to buy medicine. I went to like 10 places that I know pharmacies are, and I found one at the end. It's a war. People are afraid and mostly they are staying at home. Plus, there is no work, you know that people are not going out, there is no [reason] to go out.

Some commentators and newspapers are saying that this round of this war feels different. Does it feel different to you?

Well, it is different. This is not the first war, this is the fourth war that Gaza has experienced and in between there were many rounds of escalation just for a day or two. So it's not a totally new thing to Gazans. I'm not saying that Gazans got used to this. This time, it was--or it is still--harsh and intense. If we want to compare it with 2014, that one lasted for 50 days. And there was a ground invasion that time.

Luckily there is no ground invasion so far, mostly airstrikes. Sometimes the artillery and the tanks from the border. But mostly, they target Gaza from warplanes. Gaza City is one of the places that is targeted harshly this time. Usually, in the past, the border areas were mostly affected or impacted by the war....So the attacks on the infrastructure, streets and agriculture and places and houses in the heart of the city downtown have made people feel like it is more harsh. I can't compare exactly... Logically speaking, we need to compare it with numbers, so that we can say whether this is more tough or not.

This violence is coming after the fourth Israeli election in two years. Do you think this has changed the political calculus for Israel?

I don't know. I mean, I'm not experienced with the Israeli issues. But Netanyahu is out of power at the moment. I mean, he failed to form the government and now Yair Lapid [head of the center-right Yesh Atid party] is in charge of forming the government. There has been no news about if he succeeded or not, or maybe it is halted because of this escalation. So if he failed, which is more likely, they will go to the fifth election anyway….

Politicians have been talking about de-escalation, but what would de-escalation change for people living in Gaza?

Gaza does need this war to reach an end. You can read this on social media and talking to people in the street. They want this to be over. De-escalation is not a solution. Still people might be killed. A journalist was killed yesterday—an airstrike on his house. ... [Gazans] need this to be over and a ceasefire to be restored. There are serious talks about a ceasefire these days, and people are thinking and hoping that it will be very soon.

There were also meant to be elections in for the Palestinian Authority, the PA, that have now been indefinitely postponed. Why is that? 

Well, elections were meant to be on May 22, which is this weekend. ... Israel didn't allow the election to take place in Jerusalem, which Palestine believes is within its borders, and where Palestinians are—in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem. [Palestinians] have the right to vote, to be nominated and to participate in the elections and voting, but Israel didn't allow [those in] East Jerusalem to vote. [Attempts by Palestinian candidates to campaign in East Jerusalem were blocked, as were requests to allow people in East Jerusalem to vote in Israeli post offices, as they had in previous elections.] So that was the excuse. 

Palestinians hoped that the election would take place after 15 years of absence. The elections were kind of a light at the end of the tunnel, an avenue for change in the political arena, but it didn't happen. Unfortunately, there was a lot of disappointment among Palestinians, especially youth. Can you imagine: 40% of the population in Palestine have never experienced elections, and they have never voted? And they were expecting this to happen. Unfortunately, it was canceled... 

But in the sight of this was that both Fatah, and the main ruler of the PA, and Hamas weren’t ready to go for the election. They were afraid of the vote, their popularity.

Israel signed agreements with the UAE and other Arab states in the Gulf under Trump. Do those agreements do anything to change the livelihood of Palestinians?

I don't think so. Nothing has changed for Palestinians. The change would be for the Emiratis, not for Palestinians. And Palestinians were not happy with these normalization agreements between Arab countries and Israel. All factions announced their opposition and rejection of these agreements, as they said that according to the Arab Peace Initiative, which was approved in 2002, that agreements [should take place] after a peace settlement and the establishing of a Palestinian state, which didn't happen. So Palestinians felt themselves isolated; the Arab [states] are signing the agreements with Israel because of other issues. 

[Loud noise]

I don't know if you can hear the background.

Was that a bomb?

Naval warships shelling in the sea. I'm not far from the beach, so I can hear it easily.

Into Gaza City? 

In the beach. I mean, in the water. But, it’s loud. 

Why would they shoot into the water?

I don't know. ... But from time to time they are shooting...to keep the feeling that we are still in a war.

You wrote an essay for The Washington Post a few months ago that I found very moving about the coronavirus quarantine in Gaza, where freedom of movement is severely restricted. You wrote, “We are stuck in a lockdown within a lockdown.” I wonder if you can tell me a little bit about what the past few months have been like for you.

It's tough. For someone used to moving a lot, to traveling from time to time and to going out to meet people, it was really tough for me, myself, my family, my kids. Kids don't understand there is a lockdown and or understand the danger of the virus and outbreak of the disease...But I mean in comparison what we have now, currently with the war...viruses are more merciful than shells and rockets and missiles.