At least fifty French people are stuck in Gaza because of the war. Among them: Odey, young VTC driver from Aix-les-Bains. He arrived in the enclave a month ago to get married and is now taking refuge in a house south of the enclave.
Odey has shared the daily lives of Gazans since the start of the war. This 27-year-old Franco-Palestinian was born in Gaza but grew up in Aix-Les-Bains (Savoie). He arrived in Gaza on September 19, via Egypt, to get married: he got engaged on October 2 with a Palestinian woman from Gaza.
Since the Hamas attacks on October 7 and the start of Israeli bombings, Odey has taken refuge in a house in Rafah, south of the enclave, with his little sister and around thirty people. “It is complicatedhe testifies. It’s seriously tight, there are a lot of people. There are days we find ourselves without water.” Water arrives by truck and costs much more. It is drawn by individuals who make a high-risk business out of it: “They are self-employed, they have their own trucks and they take risks to look for water, to make money, to be able to survive.”
In the evening, to power small LEDs in the house, there is current coming from a battery recharged during the day by solar panels. This is Gaza’s historic plan B during the wars. “We manage to make a little electricity, enough to turn on the light and see what is around us, says Odey. We can’t turn on the fridge, drink cold water, nothing.”
Too long nights, marked by bombings
The Israeli raids, the bombs, it’s “all during the days and in the evening it is more violent. For example, one evening I contacted the consulate, out of stress, says Odey. Because I can’t sleep: I only slept an hour and a half, because the bombs were very close. We go out very little. We’re not moving away.”
His 24-year-old sister, who came with him, needs medication: “She was due to have an operation on October 25, I am worried about her state of health. We had not planned medication for such a long period.”
For the young driver, who grew up in Savoie, his “life insurance” is the GPS point of the house, which he communicated to the consulate general. But that’s not enough to reassure him: “They told me that they were going to transmit it to the State of Israel. But we are not safe from anything today.”
Situation in Gaza: the testimony of a Franco-Palestinian, collected by Etienne Monin