From fleeing Gaza City to a birthday in the family – Karim recounts a month in the territory
My life in Gaza: ‘Do you know the series Squid Game?’
K
arim is a trained nurse in his early 20s from Gaza City. Until Israel’s recent forced displacement order he lived in the ruins of his former home with his parents and brothers. He has now been displaced by the war 13 times and survived an Israeli strike in Rafah. He kept a diary for the Guardian over the past month.
After two years, I’ve lost all hope. I don’t believe the news about [US President Donald] Trump ending the war. My father says we should move to Deir al-Balah in the south soon, before they force us out again. If it were anyone else, the UN would have stepped in. But for us, nothing. Now they talk about sending us to South Sudan – a country racked by civil war, already full of displaced people. There are 2 million of us, trapped in less than 20 sq km, just waiting to die slowly. And the world will shrug. [Former Israeli prime minister] Golda Meir once said: “[W]e will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.” That says it all. Sometimes, I think Israel should be studied by psychologists – maybe then the world would finally understand the madness we live under.
