In the Gaza Strip, the displaced are only supported by a few collectives or local associations in addition to the UN. However, the needs are gigantic. People lack water, food and medicine.
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She takes great risks to help others. Nabila, a Palestinian who is currently in the south of the Gaza Strip, acts on behalf of a French association. Like the people she supports, Nabila is a refugee. She had to leave her apartment in Gaza City under duress, in a disaster. “We were bombed on the sixth floor while we were on the fourthshe says. Suddenly we found ourselves running in the streets and then we had to go south.”
From Rafah, near the Egyptian border, Nabila distributes water, medicine or mattresses to families who are taking refuge with locals or most often in United Nations schools. “What we are seeing is terrible. We are talking about 2,600 people in a school. There are no hygienic conditions”, deplores Nabila. And some people find themselves sleeping on the floor.
Few support structures are still functioning
Normally an English teacher, Nabila now works full-time for the Meruvian Association for Palestine, created during the 2014 war in Méru in Oise. She stored food in large quantities in a warehouse, before the enclave was strangled and stocks ran out.
The Hamas-ruled administration collapsed and NGOs withdrew their international staff. Nabila’s association is one of the few support structures still functioning in Gaza. “In the world, there are many people who are taking action to help usexplains Nabila. Afterwards in the field, it’s really difficult because it’s direct exposure to death. I happened to go to a bakery to pick up some bread to donate to schools, and two seconds later it was bombed.”
The association works particularly in the north, where the fighting is the hardest. Today the inhabitants cook with wood. And they collect rainwater in basins, since the bad weather is starting to set in.