KHAN YUNIS – At 8am on 31 October at the market in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, as hundreds of people scraped together cash to buy meagre provisions, gunfire and screams rang out.
Mariam Aslim, a 40-year-old who lives in the camp, said she was standing in a corner of the market when she saw a man who appeared to be in his twenties walking by, shouting: “I killed her after three years of waiting!”
The man had allegedly taken justice into his own hands after his stepmother arranged his father’s murder. She had reportedly been serving a jail sentence when the war broke out, but was released when Hamas police closed the prison.
“We live in chaos and there is no safety,” Aslim tells The i Paper. “We go out to buy what we need and encounter these terrifying acts.
“We lived through two years of killing, bombing and chaos, and we thought that ending the war would bring back calm … unfortunately, Gaza needs time.”
She said it was “horrific” to witness a broad daylight murder in a busy area. “Before the war, people had a sense of order and would report to police stations instead of taking matters into their own hands,” she said. “We live in a state of fear and insecurity.”
Despite the ceasefire declared on 10 October, the enclave remains in turmoil, with a mini “civil war” raging between rival militias. Reports have emerged of gun battles and street executions, with clans and gangs of thieves battling to seize power as the Israeli military retreats.
Money, tools and even clothes left in tents are frequent targets for theft, with Gazans avoiding leaving their homes unattended. One woman said the solar panel her family relied on for light and charging devices was stolen in the night.
Families are marrying off their daughters, typically aged 13 to 18 and sometimes even younger, for their protection in a dangerous environment.
Salem Khader, 55, from Khan Yunis, tells The i Paper: “Since the beginning of the war, I’ve witnessed an unprecedented level of thuggery and theft.
“We don’t feel safe when girls leave the tents to go to the market, fearing that one of them might be robbed or that something might happen somewhere, involving knives and gunfire. We sleep in the tents without any security.
“Lately, girls are getting married frequently and without conditions because there’s no security or stability. A father can’t bear the responsibility of an entire family without income, security or supervision, so he chooses to marry off his daughter and place her under someone else’s care.”
The Palestinian non-profit Women’s Affairs Centre reported in April that it was seeing evidence of child and forced marriages, driven by the spread of poverty, a lack of security and privacy within shelters and displacement schools, and parents’ fear for their daughters of being exposed to harassment and sexual assault.
Osama Jamal, a 40-year-old with a family of seven, suffers from a heart condition and has a daughter with a missing leg who needs special care and medication. He has started looking for husbands for his 16- and 14-year-old daughters. “There is no income, no house, and my daughter is injured. I know this is difficult, but I am forced to do it so that they can have another life. Schools have stopped, and everything has stopped in Gaza, and in the end, their future is marriage.”
Alaa Shehadeh, a 16-year-old from Khan Yunis, got married in April at her father’s encouragement. “I was very afraid … I agreed to the marriage with great fear in my heart.
“Life is very difficult and a great responsibility. I live in a tent without water or food … I am forced to go to distant places near the Al-Nawasi area to get water. There is no food and my husband does not work, so we cannot buy anything from the market because it is expensive. I feel that my body cannot bear this responsibility. Sometimes I want to play in the sand and swim in the sea like the children.”
Khader, who cannot return to his home near the Israeli border east of Khan Yunis, says aid trucks entering through the Kerem Abu Salem crossing continue to be robbed. The UN said that aid truck interceptions were down to around 5 per cent, compared with 80 per cent before the ceasefire, but warned that Gaza’s health, education and food production systems remained under intense pressure.
Severe overcrowding in parts of the Gaza Strip from which the Israeli army has withdrawn and where Palestinians can now live – including a large number of displaced citizens whose homes fall within the “yellow zone” under Israeli occupation – has made security a challenge.
This overcrowding makes it easier for crimes, including killings, to take place without retribution. “There’s no security, no stability, and no privacy, which has created immense pressure and an explosion of anger among the citizens, leading to problems,” said Khader. “Among the people, things end in murders, and there are no authorities capable of controlling all of this.
“Before the war, there was control, but now, unfortunately, there is nothing to control Gaza. These are the effects of the war we feared: chaos and lawlessness.”
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Salwa Baraka, 50, from Khan Younis, is a mother of seven with 15 grandchildren, all of whom need food. “I cannot buy food from the market because it is still expensive,” she says. “I am waiting to receive aid from relief organisations.
She said robberies continued to take place on Salah al-Din Street, the main highway running the length of the Strip, near the yellow line where the Israeli army is positioned, which Gazans are not permitted to approach.
“Before the war, we could buy everything from the market for a small price,” she added. “Now, the merchants are still raising prices and have no fear of any security forces affiliated with Hamas or even the Palestinian clans in Gaza.
“The poor are dying of hunger because of the lack of control and law in the Gaza Strip. The chaos continues, and the ceasefire has not solved it because the police do not operate with complete freedom in all areas of Gaza.”
