Voice from Gaza: 'There is no life, no tomorrow'

A Palestinian translator, who is assisting international aid officials and journalists, gives Channel 4 News an account of the effects of Israeli bombardment on daily life.

THURSDAY 31 JULY 2014

There has been bombing all night until the sun rises in the morning. Thanks to the lack of electricity we listen to the radio to find out where the next attacks are. I only get one or two hours of sleep a night now.

At 7am, I go to my job, helping with translation, visiting places that have been under attack or have been attacked. We've met with victims, and have been in touch with relatives, visited lots of damaged buildings and factories. This morning I went to see Gaza's only power station, there was only one tank of petrol, and it was on fire, and smoke everywhere.

'Waiting for good news'

I heard that they won't be able to produce any electricity for one year. I heard that they are going increase the prices - even my hotel bills (I'm in a hotel because it's the only place with electricity) are going to increase by 20 per cent as petrol is hard to come by. Some Gazans have generators. But it is not enough to turn on everything. You still need water pumps to provide water. You need something more advanced to do so.

I saw lots of people in queues at bakeries as there is nothing working at home. People are queuing for one to two hours just to get bread as there is no electricity, water or even gas in many homes. I saw a few families collecting wood for fires. It means we can't go anywhere, we are stuck because there is no electricity, we are just waiting for good news of a ceasefire.

'People are tired'

We want peace, we want a ceasefire. We can't cope like this, we are tired and anxious. There has already been eight years of problems with electricity. Before, we would receive only eight hours of electricity a day. Now we get two hours of electricity in 35 hours. But a ceasefire is now difficult.Israeli demands are far too much and they [Gazans] won't accept it anymore. People are tired.

No one is enjoying Eid this year, no one is at the beach where they would be, especially after theykilled those children. We feel like everyone is against us.

I am just thinking about the future. There's no hope, there's no future. People say "tomorrow will be better" but it won't happen.

Unemployment is high. People have not been receiving salaries for almost seven to eight months. When I visited al-Shifa hospital, there were a lot of nurses and medical staff who had not received salaries for eight months. How are they supposed to afford transportation or even feed their families? We feel like hostages.

'We thought Egypt would help us'

The Muslim and Arab world have turned their back on us. We thought Egypt would help us. But they didn't even let the injured into Egypt. Many have already left for Israel. This is life. There is no tomorrow.

Most of the Palestinians believe in peace, we want to be able to live together in peace. But they won't even give us a chance at attempting peace. I saw mosques damaged. People think it's a war on Islam. They destroyed the whole area. All of the east of Gaza has been under attack.

You don't know where the next bomb is going to be dropped. People ran for shelter at UN buildings where they said is a safe space. But they attacked that too. So people are running to churches for shelter. Or even standing under trees, hanging their washing. They are refugees in their own country.

There is nowhere to go. Egypt is blocked, and we are not going to live like refugees, we would rather die here. If there is a ceasefire, I will leave for better opportunities.

We have not seen any action and we no longer trust the international community. This is what people feel. It's like a genocide.

The identity of the Palestinian translator has been protected for security reasons.