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Gaza – As soon as the night closed, fear took over Heba Al-Jamla (33 years old), a mother of five children, and the darkness in Gaza – during the Israeli aggression – carried with it either “possible death” or “an expected dose of the pain of loss.” The people of Gaza agree that “night” is what they fear most during the war, given the fears it carries, and the damage and injuries it threatens as a result of the bombing, which generate and multiply terror.
Al-Jamala – who lived in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City before she was displaced to another neighborhood – says that the setting of the sun makes her feel a state of anxiety and depression, which gradually increases with the onset of darkness, reaching the point of panic.
It became clear to Al Jazeera Net that “the night is intense fear, terror, and waiting for the end. No one has certainty that he will remain alive until sunrise. We imagine that the ambulance and civil defense will search for us among the rubble. We fear for our children, and we have no choice but to pray to God to protect us.”
The mother – in her thirties – adds that Israel deliberately focuses its aggression during the night, when the terrifying sounds of explosions and aircraft escalate, houses shake, and the screaming and crying of children increases, noting that the people gather in one or two rooms or more according to their number, on the ground floor, in order to feel some reassurance. Waiting for this scary guest to leave.
The same speaker confirms that she often felt – during the past days – that death was very close to her, and she did not expect to live until sunrise. Regarding what scares her most, she says, “The terrifying sound of aircraft, the shaking of homes due to continuous raids and strikes, not knowing the news, and power outages.”
The sentence lists what she described as her worst memory during the night, which was at the beginning of the war, when a place next to her house was bombed, all the windows in her apartment were broken, and stones were scattered, forcing the family to flee the house, adding, “We were displaced and our children were displaced in the middle of the night.”
Imagine terrifying scenarios
For her part, Rahaf Aziz carries very harsh memories of the night period, explaining that she was residing in the Jabalia refugee camp north of Gaza stripBefore she fled with her family to the city of Khan Yunis (south).
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Rahaf Aziz said, “With the power outage, the night has become more terrifying,” adding that what scares her most is “the expectation of missiles falling on the house, and imagining the difficulty of getting out from under the rubble if one survives, and the loss of family or friends.” “.
She continues, “The night is almost devoid of everything except the sounds of bombing and ambulances, and the sounds of warplanes and reconnaissance aircraft that issue a sound warning of a hideous massacre.”
Rahaf remembers how she spends her time at night following the news and checking on family and friends. I often felt that death was very close, as a result of Israeli raids.
Rahaf Aziz recounts one of her memories of the bombing, where she says that the planes targeted her neighbors’ house in Jabalia camp, without prior warning, which led to a large number of martyrs, in addition to her house being partially destroyed and glass falling near her mother.
In turn, Muhammad Haniyeh agrees with Jumla and Aziz, that the most difficult thing that the people of Gaza suffer during this war is the night period, and he says that “the night is intense fear, intense pain and suffering, anxiety, waiting, and fear of bombing and loss, during which families gather to check on each other.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Haniyeh continues, “A thousand times, I felt that death was very close. Israel is bombing homes over the heads of their owners. The night is screaming and displacement, the house shaking and breaking, and waiting for the sun to rise, hotter than embers.”
Women and prayer clothes
Feryal Abdo, who lives in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, is keen to sleep in her prayer clothes for fear of an Israeli bombing, adding, “All the women of Gaza do not take off their prayer clothes for fear that their homes will be bombed, God forbid.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Abdo explained that she spends the night listening to the news on the radio available on phones, asking for forgiveness and reading the Qur’an until daylight, noting that what makes her most anxious is her fear for family, relatives and friends, in addition to raids, the sounds of planes and flare bombs.
He remembers an unforgettable scene that occurred on one of the nights of the war, when the neighbors’ screams rose in the middle of the night to warn the residents and ask them to evacuate the entire area after receiving warnings from the Israeli occupation army. She concludes her speech by saying, “Our souls do not calm down until dawn comes, and then we say: Thank God, we are still alive.”
Intentional Israeli policy
In this context, Dr. Muhammad Abu Shawish, a mental health consultant at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, accuses the Israeli occupation of deliberately inciting a state of terror in the souls of all segments of Palestinian society, during the night.
Abu Shawish told Al Jazeera Net that what the occupation army does during the night in Gaza “is not a coincidence, and leaves no room for doubt that it is intentional,” adding, “The enemy knows that the night in light of a power outage is more difficult, and he is trying as much as possible to introduce a state of “Terror in the souls of the people, inflicting the largest possible number of human casualties and killing entire families.”
Abu Shawish continues that the night period is mentally linked in the minds of the population, especially children (through previous wars), to an increase in the pace of aggression and massacres, and darkness represents a frightening symbolism for children, and a difficult experience, especially if it is linked to the current horrific massacres.
The psychological consultant pointed out that what Israel is currently practicing during the night “leaves a difficult mental image in the hearts of children, leaves them in a state of stimulation, and leaves physical effects on them such as colic, leg pain, headaches, inability to sleep, involuntary urination, and attachment to parents,” stressing that “All physical wounds heal with time, but the psychological scars that occur in people’s souls take a long time to heal.”
Post-traumatic diseases
Muhammad Abu Shawish pointed out that most of Gaza’s residents are currently living with what is known in mental health as “acute stress disorder,” which is a normal reaction to an abnormal circumstance in which many symptoms appear, including fear, panic, headaches, tension, tremors, stomach pain, and others.
The same consultant predicted that, after a full month has passed after the end of this ordeal, Gazans will enter into another disorder called “post-traumatic stress disorder,” adding that it is “a very difficult disorder, and requires a long time to heal.” He warned of the state of distortion that affected the cognitive structures in the minds of children. Because of the brutal Israeli aggression.
Abu Shawish said, “Children believe that being with parents is safe, and that the home is safe, as well as the hospital, school, and mosque. These are concepts that have been distorted in the souls of children, and will require long periods of recovery and restoration from them, and this will extend for generations, not just this generation.”
The same spokesman continued, “Although the Palestinians in Gaza have many elements of steadfastness, this event is unusual and unprecedented, and the scale of destruction, blood, and killing exceeded all expectations and perceptions. Therefore, it is not easy to remove these perceptions from the minds of children in particular.”
