Bowen: Gaza nurse describes grief and chaos of moments after Israeli strike

From nan outside, it is difficult to comprehend nan extent of suffering knowledgeable by civilians successful Gaza.

On Monday 21 October, a video emerged from Jabalia that gave an unusually elaborate penetration into nan unit and nan scary imposed connected civilians by Israel’s existent violative successful bluish Gaza. Watching it, you consciousness almost for illustration an eyewitness.

Every day, for illustration galore journalists who are forced to study nan warfare from extracurricular Gaza because Israel will not fto america in, I watch galore videos that look online, harrowing scenes of wounded, dying and bereaved group successful hospitals, of men successful nan rubble rescuing survivors and digging retired bodies, and civilians forced to move by nan Israelis, stepping done heavy soil wherever roads utilized to be, past nan unrecognisable ruins.

They are each horrible to see, and truthful was nan 1 that came from nan onslaught successful Jabalia connected Monday morning. But for maine it was different because it showed nan pain, grief, chaos, panic and hopelessness successful nan seconds and minutes instantly aft an attack.

The infinitesimal is truthful utmost that taking retired a telephone to movie it is nan past point astir group do. Over galore years arsenic a newsman successful wars, I person seen and knowledgeable nan aforesaid disbelief and shock. It takes clip for nan encephalon to drawback up pinch nan utterly changed reality that your eyes are seeing.

The Jabalia Boys Elementary schoolhouse was attacked conscionable aft 09:00 successful nan morning, connected 21 October. It was nary longer a spot of learning but had been turned into a shelter for displaced civilians, for illustration galore schools successful Gaza tally by UNRWA, nan UN agency for Palestinian refugees. All nan ones still standing, that is.

In nan video, a paramedic called Nevine al Dawawi, progressively panic-stricken, runs betwixt dormant and dying civilians, utilizing her telephone to archive what is happening (when I reported this first, connected nan time of nan strike, she was misidentified arsenic Nabila.)

We managed to way down Nevine successful Gaza City. She was capable to springiness america her ain relationship of what happened connected Monday morning. She answered questions, and overmuch much composed now, she played backmost nan video.

In it, she is agitated and scared, moving betwixt civilians lying successful their ain blood, adjacent to dormant bodies.

This communicative contains immoderate distressing specifications from this point

“Calm down,” she screams astatine a severely wounded female sitting successful a excavation of blood.

“I committedness I don’t person thing to extremity nan bleeding.”

She runs down a transition pockmarked by shrapnel. On a stairwell she sees much casualties, turns distant successful horror, picks up a container and says "let’s go, truthful no-one other gets killed".

A man’s sound connected nan video says, “stay pinch america Nevine.” Grabbing nan bag, which is afloat of coiled dressings, she goes backmost to nan stairwell that is moving pinch blood. A child’s sound says, please help, my sister is dying, please thief me.

A female says my children are gone. Nevine asked really she knew.

“Look astatine them,” nan female says. One is very still, nan different has a terrible caput coiled and is either dormant aliases dying.

Nevine hands complete dressings, moreover though it is excessively late. They are each she has, and she is nan only paramedic there.

Nevine told america that nan female connected nan stairs whose children were killed was Lina Ibrahim Abu Namos. Journalists moving for nan BBC recovered her successful Kamal Adwan infirmary successful Jabalia wherever she is being treated for shrapnel injuries. Two of Lina’s 7 children were killed, her eldest girl and her only son.

Her hubby wasn’t pinch them erstwhile nan onslaught happened, arsenic he was already being treated for wounds sustained successful an earlier attack.

“I saw my girl dying, pinch my ain eyes. She was dying successful beforehand of me. I couldn't extremity it, and she was my eldest, my full life, honestly, my full life. When your eldest dies successful beforehand of you…”

“I couldn’t prevention her, and I was besides wounded. I couldn’t grip myself, I recovered myself falling connected nan ground. I started crawling towards her.”

Nevine, nan paramedic, explained that they had been "besieged" astatine nan schoolhouse for 16 aliases 17 days. Above them was nan buzz of quadcopters, mini drones utilized extensively by nan IDF. It has a scope of them, for surveillance and espionage, to rumor orders done loudspeakers, for dropping bombs aliases firing astatine Palestinians they want to kill.

“We were surviving successful truthful overmuch fear. When nan schoolhouse was hit, we had group killed and injured. There was thing location to eat aliases drink. The h2o tanker that was usually sent to america was bombed by nan Israelis. It was for illustration that for days. Three days ago, a quadcopter descended connected nan schoolhouse astatine 9 successful nan morning, giving america an ultimatum to get retired by 10. The quadcopter loudspeaker said we had to evacuate nan schoolhouse because we were successful a vulnerable fighting zone.”

“We didn’t person clip to battalion our stuff. It gave america conscionable 1 hour. After conscionable 10 minutes, Israeli airplanes bombed nan school. It was a large massacre pinch complete 30 wounded and much than 10 killed.”

In nan video, nan wounded and dormant connected nan bloody stairs are not nan only casualties. Nevine leaves nan stairwell, and runs to a man astir apt successful his sixties, who is leaning complete a heap of bags pinch his caput successful his hands. She looks to spot if somehow, he has survived a terrible cervix coiled and screams erstwhile she sees that he has not.

“Help him, he’s dormant – it’s Uncle Abu Mohammed.”

Three days later I sent questions for a Palestinian freelance journalist to inquire her astatine al Ahli infirmary successful Gaza City. One was astir Abu Mohammed.

“He was our neighbour. His 2 sons were besides killed… 1 had half his caput gone.”

She talked our newsman done nan video arsenic she played it backmost connected her phone.

“The video showed girls torn to pieces. It besides shows men pinch their intestines protruding from tummy wounds… A 10-year-old boy had his bowels bulging extracurricular his stomach. His mum was killed, injured successful nan heart.”

“Some women who were taking screen were besides injured and others killed. A cleaner astatine nan schoolhouse was shredded into pieces. A 12-year-old woman had a limb blown off. So did a female displaced from Beit Hanoun, a municipality successful Gaza’s north. She was aged betwixt 35 and 40.”

The time earlier nan onslaught connected nan school, arsenic Israel’s violative intensified, Tor Wennesland - nan elder UN diplomat successful Jerusalem - issued a beardown statement.

“The nightmare successful Gaza is intensifying. Horrifying scenes are unfolding successful nan bluish Strip amidst conflict, relentless Israeli strikes and an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis.”

“Nowhere is safe successful Gaza. I condemn nan continuing attacks connected civilians. This warfare must end, nan hostages held by Hamas must beryllium freed, nan displacement of Palestinians must cease, and civilians must beryllium protected wherever they are. Humanitarian assistance must beryllium delivered unimpeded.”

Israel insists that it acts successful self-defence, and claims its forces respect nan laws of war. Almost each time for nan past twelvemonth successful Gaza, and much precocious successful Lebanon it says that civilians get killed because equipped groups usage them arsenic quality shields.

We put that to nan paramedic, Nevine al Dawawi.

The IDF claimed Hamas was utilizing civilians arsenic quality shields, is that true?

“No, Hamas was not utilizing civilians arsenic quality shields. They were protecting america and opinionated pinch us.”

For galore successful Israel, her connection that Hamas were successful nan area will beryllium taken arsenic a justification for nan horrors that nan IDF brought down connected nan civilians conscionable aft 9 successful nan greeting connected Monday 21 October.

But warfare crimes lawyers will inquire whether nan onslaught was justified. The laws of warfare opportunity that civilians must beryllium protected, and that casualties inflicted connected them should beryllium successful proportionality to nan subject threat faced by an attacking force.

If elder Hamas commanders were there, aliases a large attraction of fighters preparing to fight, possibly nan onslaught could beryllium justified by nan Israel Defense Forces’ ain lawyers.

But if Hamas, whose building arsenic a fighting unit has been dismantled successful a twelvemonth of relentless Israeli attacks, had only a fewer section men pinch guns successful nan area, past nan onslaught would breach nan law.

In nan improbable arena that nan Palestinians successful nan video ever had a time successful court, their lawyers could opportunity that nan subject threat to nan IDF astatine that infinitesimal did not warrant wounding 30 civilians, inflicting life changing injuries, and sidesplitting much than 10 others, including galore children.

I americium forced to usage conditional tenses because I americium penning this successful Jerusalem, not aft interviewing eyewitnesses astatine nan segment of nan onslaught successful Jabalia successful Gaza. Reporters will ever struggle to get to get to nan champion imaginable type of nan truth they tin find erstwhile they are stopped from getting to nan spot wherever nan communicative happened.

Israel allowed reporters into their separator communities on nan separator pinch Gaza successful nan days aft nan Hamas attacks past year. I was successful Kfar Azza kibbutz erstwhile they were still recovering nan bodies of dormant Israelis, arsenic soldiers checked buildings pinch bursts of gunfire. They wanted america to spot wherever Hamas had killed astir 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and dragged much than 250 into captivity successful Gaza.

The grounds is piling up that Israel has done things successful Gaza that it does not want journalists to see, which is why they will not fto america transverse into nan territory, isolated from connected uncommon and highly controlled visits pinch nan army. I person been successful only once, successful nan first period of nan war, erstwhile Israeli firepower had already turned nan areas of bluish Gaza that I saw into a wasteland.

As a result, journalists trust connected videos and statements that look from Palestinians wrong Gaza, including immoderate very brave journalists, and from world diplomats, medics and assistance workers who are allowed into Gaza, and witnesses for illustration Nevine pinch smartphones.

In nan hospital, Lina Ibrahim Abu Namos was haunted by her nonaccomplishment of her eldest daughter, her only son, and everything they called home.

“I had 7 children, and now I only person 5 left… What tin I say? I don’t moreover know. By God, they person surgery our hearts. We are exhausted, emotionally drained. We’ve mislaid everything.”

“What crime person nan children committed? What person they done? What person we done to merit this?”

“What person we done to nan Israelis? I swear, they’ve destroyed our children.”

"I’m truthful scared. I don’t eat aliases drink. Nothing. All I request is for my children to enactment astir me, because we are frightened and we’ve been displaced from 1 spot to another. What is near for my daughters and for me? There’s nary home, obscurity safe, nothing. I’m conscionable 1 of galore group pinch obscurity to go, nary safety. I'm exhausted.”