The Israeli army disregarded the presence of children in the house and bombed it with shells that shook its walls and smashed down all the windows.
Maryam Abu Shalal is a 37-year-old resident of the Balata refugee camp. Over the last couple of months, she has been going through extremely tough times.
The Balata refugee camp, which is located east of Nablus, is the largest camp in the West Bank in terms of area and population. Recently, it has been the subject of continuous incursions by the Israeli occupation army.
Last December, Maryam and her seven children were asleep when they were woken up by an earth-shattering Israeli shelling. The target of the attack was Maryam’s brother-in-law, Abdullah Abu Shalal on the floor below.
Hours into this nightmare, Abdullah was able to escape, but he was killed one month later by an Israeli bombing that targeted him near the camp.
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The Israeli army disregarded the presence of children in the house and bombed it with shells that shook its walls and smashed down all the windows.
“The sound was terrible and all my children started crying. Some of them panicked, and I as well started screaming after I found that the army was surrounding the building and no one could save us. I thought we would die inside,” Maryam told The Palestine Chronicle.
On the night of the Israeli bombing, Maryam’s four-year-old child was injured by a stone that hit his head, which left him with brain bleeds causing him headaches and severe pain to this day.
Her 12 year-old-son as well is still struggling with psychological trauma.
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Burning the House
Maryam’s ordeal, however, did not end there. Last May, an Israeli drone targeted the house again with missiles, causing it to burn with all its contents. Luckily, Maryam and her family were at her father’s house.
“We heard the sound of bombing of our house from my father’s house. It was terrible and we thought it had been demolished. We rushed there and we saw that it was burnt, with all the furniture in it. Even all of my children’s clothes were burnt,” Maryam explained.
Maryam decided to move to her father’s, which currently houses 20 people in the three-room house, just before an Israeli drone bombed her house again, resulting in its complete demolition.
“The situation is unbearable here. Every day, there are Israeli army raids and non-stop confrontations,” Maryam said.
“My children are still living in a state of panic since December, and the repeated army attacks that are happening in the camp make the situation even worse.”
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Systematic Attacks
The Israeli incursions into Balata’s camp are part of a wider military campaign launched by Israel on several camps in the northern West Bank, with the alleged aim of eliminating armed groups.
Life in the camp is impossible for the residents, especially since the Israeli army deliberately sabotages infrastructure and vandalizes streets.
Ahmed Thouqan, a spokesperson from the popular committee in the Balata camp, told the Palestine Chronicle that the attacks on Balata are systematic and take place several times a week.
Since last October, the camp – where more than 33,000 Palestinian refugees live in an area that does not exceed half a square kilometer – has been the subject of 60 raids by the Israeli army.
During these incursions, at least 18 Palestinians were killed and more than 90 were injured, one of whom is still in critical condition in the hospital.
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Thouqan explained that 21 houses in the camp are no longer habitable since they were severely damaged due to the bombings or the raids they were subjected to, while at least a hundred others are partially damaged.
“During one of the raids several months ago, Israeli soldiers stormed more than 300 homes in 36 hours, vandalized their contents, and destroyed some of the walls,” he said.
Due to the nature of the camp, with its narrow alleys, military vehicles intentionally hit the homes and shops, causing damage that cannot be easily repaired.
According to Thouqan, the camp is no longer a safe place for residents due to the continuous raids day and night, as Israeli soldiers occupy the alleys and terrorize families by shooting indiscriminately.
‘State of Terror’
Only two weeks ago, the Israeli army stormed the camp in the afternoon hours while tens of families were gathered playing with their children in a small park near the camp, resulting in great panic among the residents and inconsolable screaming of children.
“During school days, students and their families enter a state of terror if there is an Israeli raid because it puts them in front of two difficult choices: Either to keep the children at school, which may prove dangerous, or to send them home under fire,” Thouqan told us.
The Israeli army is not content with the aerial bombardment targeting civilians in the camp but usually aims to make the lives of residents impossible by sabotaging the infrastructure through the systematic damage of water networks and electricity lines.
Arrests go hand in hand with these ongoing incursions where 70 camp residents have been detained by Israeli forces since last October, most of whom are still in Israeli prisons.
The Balata refugee camp is one example of life under Israeli occupation in the West Bank where Palestinians have been daily subjected to the worst human rights violations and dehumanization for decades.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Fayha’ Shalash is a Ramallah-based Palestinian journalist. She graduated from Birzeit University in 2008 and she has been working as a reporter and broadcaster ever since. Her articles appeared in several online publications. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
