A brief respite in Gaza
Allison Deger on August 4, 2014 
Over the past three and a half weeks Israel’s Operation Protective Edge has sunk Gaza into a besieged land corridor of misery. The civilian casualties have exceeded 1,800, and over 500,000–a quarter of Gaza’s population–are displaced. Although overpowering, the devastation does have brief breaks. During ceasefire hours a semblance of normal life returns.
When I had a chance to visit Gaza, an internationally-lauded lull in fire was underway on July 25 and 26, and I visited a park honoring unknown fallen soldiers in Gaza City that brimmed with the newly homeless and the dislocated enjoying a brief respite. They fled from Shuja’iyeh–the first town blanketed in leaflets from the Israeli army ordering Palestinians to vacate for a ground incursion–and Beit Hanoun, an equally dilapidated community near the Erez Crossing.
Gaza City
Of course ceasefires are not particularly safe as they end abruptly. For some it was a time to finally reach their homes after hours of walking in the summer heat, although often only to discover it had been totally destroyed the night before. And even with the risk of roaming Israeli tanks and ongoing operations to explode tunnels that run under civilian homes, ceasefires offer the only reasonable time when Palestinians can attempt to view their houses abandoned under fire, to swim in a putrid fountain that smells of waste, and to purchase clothing and food. I spoke to many who had not eaten or drunk water for days. For them, a ceasefire meant they could undertake the most basic task of walking to a corner store and filling a tank of water.
“I just came,” said a bewildered Firas, 15, from Shuja’iyeh before cannonballing into a white tiled fountain in Gaza City. Firas is displaced along with his entire family, holed up in a one bedroom apartment that overlooks the green square. He splashed with other children younger than him, all of whom are also living in cramped apartments, or rented spaces in the backs of mini-markets that line the boulevard. When I spoke to him it was the first time in five days that he was able to go outside and enter the cool water 50 meters from his shelter. “It’s good, but the leaves from the trees are bothering me while swimming.”
