Latest news with #Daral-ArqamSchool
Middle East Eye
22-07-2025
- General
- Middle East Eye
First thing after the ceasefire? Find the dead, say Gaza's Palestinians
As ceasefire talks continue to make headlines, a sense of cautious hope is spreading among Palestinians in Gaza. This optimism has sparked a new social media trend, with young people sharing answers to one poignant question: What's the first thing you'll do once a ceasefire happens? While some replies ranged from 'getting a good sleep' to 'eating meat for the first time,' the majority were unexpectedly sombre. 'I want to go look for [my daughter] Rital at Dar Al-Arqam School,' wrote Doha al-Saifi, a resident of Gaza who lost three of her four children, including her 13-year-old daughter Rital, whose body remains missing. Saifi was visiting her displaced sister at Dar al-Arqam School, which had been turned into a shelter, in the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, when Israeli fighter jets bombed the site on 3 April. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'My four-year-old son Osama's head was severed, we didn't find it, so he was buried without it. My other son, Nour, who was 10, was buried whole, thank God. But Rital, we never found her body,' Saifi told Middle East Eye. 'My 21-year-old niece, Rime, is still missing. My sister, whom I was visiting, was killed along with her three daughters. I was seriously wounded in the arm and lost my lower jaw.' 'We are only waiting for it so we can search for our loved ones and retrieve their bodies' - Doha al-Saifi, Gaza City resident The attack, which occurred one day after Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, claimed the lives of at least 31 Palestinians, most of them women and children. 'The first ceasefire was supposed to be a happy ending to all our suffering,' Saifi said. 'But we are only waiting for it so we can search for our loved ones and retrieve their bodies from beneath the rubble.' Under Saifi's post, dozens of Palestinian echoed the same longing; to search for their loved ones under the rubble and grant them a dignified burial. Doaa Monir Abu al-Kas commented: 'I want to search for my father's body, may God have mercy on him, at my family's home, destroyed by carpet bombing.' She continued: 'And I want to visit the graves of my three brothers, Mohammed, Saif al-Din, and Abdullah, along with my cousins on both sides, and our loved ones among our friends and my family's friends.' In another post, Amna Saleh, a resident of Gaza, wrote: 'I want to visit my brother's grave in the Martyrs' Cemetery [in northern Gaza], which we haven't been able to reach since the very first hour of the war." While Ahmed Nasser, a digital creator from Gaza, posted: 'If God willing, I will search for the grave of my brother who was martyred during the war.' Securing the dead Amid relentless Israeli bombardment and the military's obstruction of search and rescue efforts, thousands of Palestinians across the devastated Gaza Strip have been reported missing since 7 October 2023. According to the United Nations and human rights organisations, an estimated 10,000 to 11,000 Palestinians are missing, most presumed dead under the rubble. 'People in Gaza have forgotten what joy feels like, there is simply no space left for happiness or relief after all the suffering we endure' - Abed Aboriash, Palestinian journalist This has left thousands of parents, spouses, and children unable to confirm the fate of their loved ones, trapped in a limbo they believe can only end once a ceasefire is reached and search teams are permitted to operate. But even those who have managed to bury their loved ones remain constantly worried, as intense Israeli attacks on cemeteries leave families in constant fear that graves may be desecrated or destroyed. Joining the social media trend, Palestinian journalist Abed Aboriash posted: 'What's the first thing you'll do once a ceasefire happens? For me, I want to move my father's grave, may God have mercy on him, from the south to the north... What about you?' Originally from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Abd al-Hakim Abu Riash was displaced with his family to several locations, including Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Amid worsening displacement conditions and lack of adequate medical care, his elderly father passed away in their makeshift tent in Khan Younis on 14 September 2024. Prevented by the Israeli military from returning to northern Gaza, the family was forced to bury him in a newly established makeshift cemetery near Nasser Hospital. 'The cemetery was bulldozed by the Israeli occupation army. Whenever there is an attack [there], we go to the cemetery to rebuild the grave,' Aboriash told MEE. I was buried alive beneath the rubble and awoke in a 'graveyard' Read More » 'As soon as the ceasefire happens, I will move my father's body to the Beit Lahia cemetery, where he was born in northern Gaza.' Aboriash added that a ceasefire will not be a moment of celebration, but rather the beginning of heavier responsibilities, ones that Palestinians are currently unable to carry out. 'The life of a Palestinian living in Gaza City under the ongoing genocide has become so limited that all thoughts now revolve solely around finding food and water,' he explained. 'People in Gaza have forgotten what joy feels like, there is simply no space left for happiness or relief after all the suffering we endure.' Earlier this month, indirect talks between Israel and Hamas intensified in Doha. While negotiations are ongoing, there are still no clear signs that a deal is imminent. In the meantime, Israel has intensified its bombardment across the Gaza Strip, killing scores of people each day. The months-long blockade remains in place, worsening widespread starvation that has claimed the lives of at least 20 people in just two days. Excluding the missing, Israeli forces have killed over 59,000 Palestinian since October 2023, including at least 17,000 children.
Al Jazeera
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Fear is not a word that can describe what we feel in Gaza
Last week, during another violent night, my almost four-year-old niece asked me a question I'll never forget. 'If we die while sleeping… will it still hurt?' I didn't know what to say. How do you tell a child — who has seen more death than daylight — that dying in your sleep is a mercy? So I told her: 'No. I don't think so. That's why we should fall asleep now.' She nodded quietly, and turned her face to the wall. She believed me. She closed her eyes. I sat in the dark, listening to the bombs, wondering how many children were being buried alive just down the street. I have 12 nieces and nephews. All are under the age of nine. They have been my solace and joy in these dark times. But I, like their parents, struggle to help them make sense of what is going on around us. We have had to lie to them so many times. They would often believe us, but sometimes they would feel in our voices or our stares that something terrifying was happening. They would feel the horror in the air. No child should ever have to endure such brutality. No parent should have to cower in despair, knowing they cannot protect their children. Last month, the ceasefire ended, and with it, the illusion of a pause. What followed wasn't just a resumption of war — it was a shift to something more brutal and relentless. In the span of three weeks, Gaza has become a field of fire, where no one is safe. More than 1,400 men, women and children have been slaughtered. Daily massacres have shattered what remained of our ability to hope. Some of them have hit home. Not just emotionally. Physically. Just yesterday, the air was filled with dust and the smell of blood from just a few streets away. The Israeli army targeted al-Nakheel Street in Gaza City, killing 11 people, including five children. A few days earlier, at Dar al-Arqam School, a place that had sheltered displaced families, an Israeli air strike turned classrooms into ash. At least 30 people were killed in seconds—mostly women and children. They had come there seeking safety, believing the blue United Nations flag would protect them. It didn't. The school is less than 10 minutes away from my home. The same day, the nearby Fahd School was also bombarded; three people were killed. A day earlier, there was news of a horror scene in Jabalia. An Israeli strike targeted a clinic run by the UNRWA, where civilians were sheltering. Eyewitnesses described body parts strewn across the clinic. Children burned alive. An infant decapitated. The smell of burning flesh suffocating the survivors. It was a massacre in a place meant for healing. Amid all this, parts of Gaza City received evacuation orders. Evacuate. Now. But to where? Gaza has no safe zones. The north is levelled. The south is bombed. The sea is a prison. The roads are death traps. We stayed. It is not because we are brave. It is because we have nowhere else to go. Fear is not the right word to describe what we feel in Gaza. Fear is manageable. Fear can be named. What we feel is a choking, silent terror that sits inside your chest and never leaves. It is the moment between a missile's whistle and the impact, when you wonder if your heart has stopped. It is the sound of children crying from under the rubble. The smell of blood spreading with the wind. It is the question my niece asked. Foreign governments and politicians call it a 'conflict'. A 'complex situation'. A 'tragedy'. But what we are living through is not complex. It is a plain massacre. What we are living through is not a tragedy. It is a war crime. I am a writer. A journalist. I've spent months writing, documenting, calling out to the world through my words. I have sent dispatches. I have told stories no one else could. And yet — so often — I feel like I am screaming into a void. Still, I keep writing. Because even if the world looks away, I will not let our truth remain unspoken. Because I believe someone is listening. Somewhere. I write because I believe in humanity, even when governments have turned their backs on it. I write so that when history is written, no one can say they didn't know. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Times of Oman
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
Oman condemns ongoing aggression by Israeli forces in Gaza Strip
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman has condemned the ongoing aggression launched by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, and the accompanying deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, including the bombing of a shelter centre affiliated with Dar al-Arqam School in the north-eastern Tuffah district of Gaza City, and the destruction of a warehouse for medical and relief supplies belonging to the Saudi Center for Culture and Heritage. In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry on Friday, the Sultanate of Oman renewed its appeal to the international community and the Security Council to take decisive measures to protect civilians, halt these ongoing and serious violations of international law, and achieve justice for the Palestinian people by ending the Israeli occupation of their lands and enabling them to achieve their legitimate rights, foremost among which is the establishment of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel expands ground offensive in Gaza
The Israeli military announced the launch of a new ground offensive in Gaza City on Friday to expand the security zone it has established in the Palestinian territory. Israel has pushed since the collapse of a short-lived truce in the war with Hamas to seize territory in Gaza in what it has called a strategy to force the militants to free hostages still in captivity. Simultaneously, it has escalated attacks on Lebanon and Syria, with a strike in the south Lebanese city of Sidon killing a Hamas commander along with his adult son and daughter, according to the military. In Gaza City, the Israeli military said ground troops had begun conducting operations in the Shejaiya area "in order to expand the security zone". Defence Minister Israel Katz had said on Wednesday that Israel would bolster its military presence inside the Gaza Strip to "destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure". The operation would "seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones", he said, without specifying how much territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army was dividing Gaza and "seizing territory" to force Hamas to free the remaining Israeli hostages seized in the militant group's October 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza war. On Thursday, Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 31 people, including children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a school serving as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that women and children were among the dead, while six people were still unaccounted for in the strike on Dar al-Arqam School in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, northeast of Gaza City. "One of the missing was a pregnant woman who was expecting twins," he said. The Israeli military said it had struck a "Hamas command and control centre in the area of Gaza City". It was unclear whether it was the same attack that hit the school. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Thursday that 1,163 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes on March 18, bringing the overall death toll since the war began to 50,523. - Lebanon strike - In Lebanon, Israel said it killed a Hamas commander in a strike on the port city of Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter. "Overnight, the (army and the domestic security agency Shin Bet) conducted a targeted strike in the Sidon area, eliminating the terrorist Hassan Farhat, commander of Hamas's western arena in Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement. It alleged that Farhat had orchestrated multiple attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians during the hostilities that followed the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023. They included rocket fire on the Israeli town of Safed on February 14, 2024 that killed an Israeli soldier, the military added. An AFP correspondent saw the fourth-floor flat still on fire after the strike, which caused heavy damage to the apartment block and neighbouring buildings and sparked panic in the densely populated neighbourhood. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strike as a "flagrant attack on Lebanese sovereignty" and a breach of the November 27 ceasefire in the war between militant group Hezbollah and Israel. Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah spiralled into all-out conflict last September, and the group remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the ceasefire. Under the truce, Hezbollah is supposed to redeploy its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems "strategic". In Syria, it has conducted strikes on military targets across the country this week, defying a United Nations warning that such attacks "undermine efforts to build a new Syria" following president Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December. bur-ser/kir
Daily Tribune
04-04-2025
- Daily Tribune
Children among 31 killed in Israel strike on shelter
AFP | Gaza City Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 31 people, including children, were killed in an Israeli strike yesterday on a school serving as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that women and children were among the dead, while six people were still unaccounted for in the strike on Dar al-Arqam School in the AlTuffah neighbourhood, northeast of Gaza City. Bassal had said earlier that more than 100 others were wounded in the attack. Pregnant woman 'One of the missing was a pregnant woman who was expecting twins,' he said. The Israeli military said in a statement it had struck a 'Hamas command and control centre in the area of Gaza City'. It was unclear whether it was the same attack that targeted the school. The military said it was unable to confirm whether the strike had hit the school. Innocent civilians Hamas condemned the attack, accusing the Israeli government of continuing its 'targeting of innocent civilians as part of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip'. Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in schools and other facilities to escape the deadly violence.
