With the interruption of fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression, residents of the Gaza Strip and the displaced have resorted to burning textbooks, cultural books, and master’s and doctoral theses to light fires for the purpose of heating and cooking, which also threatens them with respiratory diseases.
In light of the humanitarian catastrophe that the Palestinians are experiencing in the Gaza Strip due to the war and the absence of the necessities of life, including cooking gas, which Israel has prevented from entering except recently and in limited quantities, dozens of citizens were forced to burn school and cultural books and master’s and doctoral dissertations to start fires amid an almost complete depletion of firewood in some areas.
Since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, which broke out on October 7, Palestinians have resorted to cooking and heating in the old ways, using firewood and cardboard to light fires. However, they have recently turned to cultural books to achieve this goal.
From most of the densely populated areas of the Strip, especially in the southern part, thick black smoke is emitted from burning leaves, and it interferes with the smoke of the Israeli bombing, causing what citizens describe as “blurred vision.”
The smoke resulting from these burning materials also causes respiratory diseases for citizens who sit in front of it for long hours waiting for the moment when food preparation is finished.
Since the outbreak of the devastating war on the Gaza Strip, Israel has cut off supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel to the residents of Gaza, who are about 2.3 million Palestinians who are already suffering from extremely deteriorating conditions.
After UN and international pressure, Israel allowed very limited humanitarian aid to enter Gaza through the Egyptian Rafah crossing, which is primarily intended for travelers.
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left 19,667 martyrs and 52,586 injured, most of them children and women, massive destruction of infrastructure and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and UN sources.
Master's and doctoral theses
Palestinian journalist Israa Al-Mudalalal revealed that her mother and two brothers had to burn their doctoral theses in order to prepare a loaf of bread.
Al-Mudallal added, in her posts a few days ago on social media: “The doctoral dissertations of my mother, Mrs. Naima, and of two of my brothers, Abdullah and Muhammad, were collected this morning to burn instead of the firewood and wood that ran out, for a loaf of bread and a cup of hot tea.”
She continued: “After my mother served her whole life with the United Nations as the first woman director of the educational district in Rafah for UNRWA, and after she opened houses of learning, raised generations, and established an educational approach that was the first in the Middle East, she burned all her master’s and doctoral dissertations, and so did my brothers after the policy.” The starvation that the world imposes on us, Everyone is responsible, negligent, and complicit in the crime.”
And so did the Palestinian Ruba Aslim, who had to burn her master’s thesis to light the fire needed to cook a little pasta for her children, for which she received aid.
As the intensity of the fire burning under the pot of food fades, Aslim tears more of her letter papers to ensure that the burning continues until the food is cooked.
She says as she adds more papers to the burning fire: “We no longer have options. The human being was burned by the Israeli fire. Will we be sad because of these letters?”
Looking with regret at her effort, which took her more than a year, she adds: “This message has always made me proud, but today we are fighting starvation by lighting fires by any means after we have run out of firewood, and the price of firewood in the markets has risen to great numbers.”
"Library of Bahrain" is a source of fuel
In the city of Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, citizens resorted to cultural books in the “Bahrain Library”, affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), to use them to start fires.
The Bahrain Library, which has always been a destination for intellectuals, readers, and cultural and intellectual activities, has turned into a source of “paper” fuel that contributes to lighting fires to cook food.
Eyewitnesses living near this library indicated that a group of citizens entered it weeks ago and took out groups of its books to burn them.
In turn, Palestinian blogger Hamza Abu Toha said in a post on Facebook on November 25: “The Bahrain Library is full of delicious books and encyclopedias, and I grew up in it since its founding 13 years ago. I passed by it today and found that people had opened it and taken everything.” It contains books, shelves, and wood so that they can light a fire to make bread after the lack of gas and fuel.”
He added: "I sat on my knees crying at the sight of the books and encyclopedias that people were carrying to burn, after many of them had burned their clothes for that purpose."
The Bahrain Library, which has two branches, contains: The first is in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, and the other is in Rafah. It contains thousands of books, and also includes a computer laboratory and a 3D cinema hall.
Cognitive loss and health risks
In addition to the fact that these burning books represent a loss of knowledge, the smoke emanating from them causes health complications, especially in the respiratory system of people who sit in front of them or are directly exposed to them.
The displaced Umm Raed Abu Ghali, who lives in one of the displacement tents near the Egyptian-Palestinian border, confirmed that she starts fires on a daily basis using paper taken from school books.
She added: "My daughter brought some school books with her during her exodus from the Beach Camp for Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, so she used them to light fires to make tea and some food," according to the humanitarian aid she had available that was being distributed.
Burning books and doctoral dissertations in Gaza to prepare food due to Israel’s prevention of fuel supplies to the Strip (AA)
She explained that before the displacement trip, she used wood to light fires, noting that her repeated inhalation of the smoke of these burning materials made her difficult to breathe.
Umm Raed is unable to go to health centers or hospitals that operate according to the emergency system in order to receive treatment, expressing her fear that her health condition will worsen.
Last November, the World Health Organization warned of the spread of diseases due to overcrowding of displaced people in shelters, and the disruption of the health system in some areas.
Starvation a war crime
On Monday, Human Rights Watch considered the Israeli government's use of "starvation" of civilians as a weapon in Gaza a "war crime."
She explained in her report that the Israeli army deliberately prevents the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid, bulldozing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of materials that are indispensable for their survival.
Omar Shaker, the organization’s director of Israel and Palestine affairs, said: “For more than two months, Israel has been depriving the people of Gaza of food and water, a policy that was urged or supported by senior Israeli officials, and reflects the intention to starve civilians as a tactic of war.”
He pointed out that the Israeli government is doubling its collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and preventing humanitarian aid by cruelly using starvation as a weapon of war.
On December 6, the United Nations World Food Program reported that 9 out of 10 families in northern Gaza, and two out of three families in southern Gaza, spent “at least a full day and a full night without food,” according to the report.
A complete loss of communications in the southern Gaza Strip and heavy bombardment in several areas
On Wednesday, the violent Israeli air and artillery bombardment focused on the areas of Jabalia and Khan Yunis in the northern and central Gaza Strip, leaving more martyrs and wounded, while fixed-line, Internet, and cell phone services were cut off in large parts of the Strip.
The Israeli army continues to launch its air strikes and artillery shelling of various areas in the Gaza Strip for the 75th consecutive day. Military operations have been concentrated since Wednesday dawn on the areas of Jabalia and Khan Yunis in the northern and central Gaza Strip, leaving more martyrs and wounded and great destruction.
The Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir Al-Bursh, reported that 20 martyrs and 25 wounded had arrived at hospitals on Wednesday morning, in addition to the presence of dozens under the rubble.
Al-Barsh said in a press statement, “The occupation wants, through continuous bombing, to stop the remaining health services in the Gaza Strip,” stressing that “the occupation is practicing genocide against the Palestinian people, especially children.”
This comes at a time when the Israeli occupation army said that its forces bombed more than 300 sites during the last 24 hours, indicating that it “is still waging battles and direct confrontations in the Gaza Strip.”
Heavy bombing
The official Palestinian News Agency reported that an intense and violent Israeli bombardment targeted Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn on Wednesday, resulting in the death and injury of dozens of citizens, most of them children and women.
The bombing comes after the death of 16 Palestinians and the injury of more than 70 others on Tuesday evening, in a bombing that targeted the town and camp of Jabalia.
The occupation forces executed "more than 13 people in the Anan family home, in front of the eyes of children and women in northern Gaza," according to the agency.
In Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, occupation aircraft launched a series of raids with violent Israeli artillery shelling, resulting in the death of a child and the injury of a number of others. They targeted a house in the Japanese neighborhood west of Khan Yunis, and injuries resulted from an Israeli raid on the Al-Amal neighborhood.
Israeli aircraft also bombed a house in the middle of the Shaboura camp in central Rafah, resulting in the death and injury of many citizens.
Also, 15 Palestinians were martyred and others were injured in the warplane’s bombing of a house for the Hamdan family, west of Khan Yunis.
Israeli artillery bombed the neighborhoods of Al-Tuffah, Al-Daraj and Al-Shuja'iya, east of Gaza City, and the aerial bombardment targeted a house near Sheikh Radwan Pool in the city.
Palestinian medical sources reported that about 100 martyrs and hundreds of wounded arrived at hospitals during the last hours of Tuesday evening, as a result of the massacres committed by the occupation forces throughout the Gaza Strip.
The same sources revealed that Israeli missiles hit southern Rafah on Tuesday evening, where hundreds of thousands of refugees had gathered in the past few weeks, causing the death of 20 Palestinians and the injury of dozens while they were sleeping in their homes.
Eyewitnesses said that residents were forced to search the rubble with their hands to look for survivors.
Seventh communications outage
On Wednesday, landline, Internet, and cell phone services were cut off from large parts of the Gaza Strip, as Israeli bombing continued on various areas of the Strip.
The Palestinian Telecommunications Company and Jawwal announced, on Wednesday, a complete interruption of communication and Internet services in the Gaza Strip, the seventh interruption to which the company has been exposed since the outbreak of the war.
Palestinian Telecommunications and Jawwal said in a statement: “We regret announcing a complete interruption of all communications and Internet services with the Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing aggression.”
In the past six times that the Gaza Strip was subjected to a service cutoff, landline, cellular, and Internet communications were cut off for several hours, while the longest cutoff lasted for 4 consecutive days, on December 14 of this month.
In another statement, Ooredoo Palestine announced the interruption of communications services from the south and center of the Gaza Strip, and the service remains intermittent from the north, which is also the seventh interruption to which the company's services have been exposed since the start of the war.
Dangerous situation
In this context, the regional spokesman for UNICEF, Salim Owais, called on the Security Council, the United Nations and the international community to cease fire in Gaza.
The spokesman said in press statements on Wednesday that “international organizations cannot provide their services in Gaza in light of the continuing Israeli bombing.”
Salim Owais pointed out that “delivering water to Gaza is a necessity and a priority in light of what the residents of the Gaza Strip are going through,” stressing that the difficult health conditions and lack of water “foreshadow the spread of serious diseases in the Gaza Strip.”
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