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Jordan Times
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
'Help us,' says wife of Gaza medic missing since ambulance attack
Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025 (AFP photo) KHAN YUNIS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — More than three weeks after an Israeli military ambush killed 15 of her husband's fellow medics, Nafiza al-Nsasrah says she still has no idea where he is being held. "We have no information, no idea which prison he's in or where he is being held, or what his health condition is," Nsasrah told AFP, showing a photograph of her husband Asaad in his medic's uniform at the wheel of an ambulance. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday that Nsasrah was in Israeli custody after being "forcibly abducted" when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a convoy of ambulances on March 23. In the early hours of that day, Israeli soldiers ambushed a convoy of ambulances and a firetruck near the southern city of Rafah as the crew responded to emergency calls. Eight staff members from the Red Crescent, six from the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees were killed in the attack, according to the UN humanitarian office OCHA. Their bodies were found buried in the sand near the site of the shooting in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah, in what OCHA described as a mass grave. One member of the crew survived the attack. He was initially detained by troops but subsequently released. The Palestinian Red Crescent was able to recover footage of part of the attack filmed by one of the medics on his mobile phone before he was gunned down. An Israeli military official told journalists that the soldiers who fired at the ambulances "thought they had an encounter with terrorists". The video footage contradicts that account as the ambulances had their lights blinking when they came under attack. 'Intent to kill' "At the time of the incident, we had no idea what had happened," Nsasrah said in the plastic-sheet shelter in the southern city of Khan Yunis which she and her family have called home for nearly a year. Her husband's body was not among those found in the mass grave near Rafah. "We heard some ambulances had been surrounded (by the Israeli army), so we called (the Red Crescent) because (my husband) was late to return from his shift," the 43-year-old said. "They told us that he was surrounded but didn't know what had happened exactly." Afterwards, the Red Crescent told her that he had been detained by Israeli forces. "We felt a little relieved but not completely because detainees often face torture. So we are still afraid," Nsasrah said, her voice drowned out by the persistent buzz of an Israeli surveillance drone overhead. When the Red Crescent announced he had been detained, AFP reached out to the Israeli military for confirmation. The military responded by referring AFP to an earlier statement noting that armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had ordered a thorough investigation into the attack. The March 23 killings occurred days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory and drew international condemnation. The Palestinian Red Crescent has charged that Israeli soldiers shot the medics in their upper body with "intent to kill". Nsasrah, her husband and their six children have been living under canvas in Khan Yunis since May last year. Despite the hardship, she remains determined to get her husband back. "I call on the international community to help us get any information on Asaad Al-Nsasrah," she said. "I ask to obtain information about his health condition and to allow us to visit him or to help us get him released." Page 2
Jordan Times
10-03-2025
- General
- Jordan Times
Boatless in Gaza- using old fridge doors to catch fish
A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City yesterday (AFP photo) GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Balanced calmly on top of what was once a refrigerator door, fisherman Khaled Habib uses a makeshift paddle to propel himself through the waters of Gaza City's fishing port. Israeli bombardment over more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas has destroyed most of the boats in the harbour, wrecking the fishermen's means of making a living. "We're in a very difficult situation today, and struggling with the fishing. There are no fishing boats left. They've all been destroyed and tossed on the ground," Habib told AFP. "I made this 'boat' from refrigerator doors and cork, and thankfully it worked." So he could continue feeding his family, Habib came up with the idea of stuffing cork into old fridge doors to make them buoyant. He covered one side with wood and the other with plastic sheeting to help make the makeshift paddleboard waterproof. Habib also crafted a fishing cage out of wire because of the lack of nets, but admitted that his resulting catch was "small". The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said in December that the conflict had taken Gaza's "once thriving fishing sector to the brink of collapse". "Gaza's average daily catch between October 2023 to April 2024 dropped to just 7.3 percent of 2022 levels, causing a $17.5 million production loss," the FAO said. The war in Gaza was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN considers these casualty figures to be reliable. 'Learn how to swim' Using dough as bait, Habib now fishes mainly inside the small port area. Despite the fragile ceasefire that came into force on January 19, and which largely halted the fighting, Habib said that fishing outside the port is not allowed. "If we go (outside the fishermen's harbour), the Israeli boats will shoot at us, and that's a problem we suffer from a lot." Habib said he catches enough fish to feed his family and tries to help others by selling the rest at an affordable price. After dividing his catch into small plastic bags, the fisherman sells some at the harbour market where prices can be high. The first phase of the Gaza truce, which ended on March 1, had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance into the Palestinian territory. Israel announced on March 2 that it was blocking aid deliveries to Gaza, where Palestinians say they fear food shortages and price hikes. Several other fishermen, particularly the younger generation, have also taken to using the new makeshift floating platforms. Habib sees the home-made paddleboards as having a dual purpose. "If we wanted to raise a new generation to learn how to swim, boats should be made for them from refrigerator doors, and then everyone would learn how to swim, row and sail," he said. "Thank God, now they've learned how to swim," he added, looking out over the water at children trying to keep their balance. Page 2
