Scenes from the ‘new Nakba’

On "the day after" the fighting in Gaza, the magnitude of the death and destruction continues to come to light. Bodies are still being pulled out of the wreckage, bringing the death toll to well over 1,300, and hundreds of thousands of people are contending with water, sewage, and health systems that are in a state of collapse.

Despite the wreckage that is still being uncovered these very days, the Israeli Supreme Court last night rejected two petitions submitted by human right organizations in Israel, demanding the evacuation of wounded from the Gaza Strip and the supply of electricity to Gaza's humanitarian infrastructure, especially the health, water and sewage systems. The court rejected the petitions without even waiting for the explanations the State was supposed to submit today, in response to claims by the human rights groups that Israel was not permitting evacuation of those injured in the Gaza Strip.

According to Professor As'ad AbuKhalil, author of the 'Angry Arab'
blog, fellow blogger Ahdaf Souif in (Egyptian) Rafah told him, "Outside
the general Hospital in Egyptian Rafah a city of tents has sprung up. I
counted 200. But the soldiers there told me they have many more and can
set them up immediately. They said the beds and furnishings for all the
camps are ready. I was also told that other camps are being set up, in
el-Arish and other locations. I was told these camps were being set up
for 'the Palestinian refugees.'”

Souif reported that he asked the Egyptian soldiers about the tents, and was told they were for Palestinian refugees who were expected to be coming through the Rafah border crossing when it opened. The Israeli government has been pressuring Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, while continuing to keep all other borders of Gaza completely sealed.

Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom are the children or grandchildren refugees from what is now Israel, who were forced out when Israel was created in 1948 on Palestinian land, may be hesitant to move to what are currently temporary shelters in Egypt, but could end up becoming refugee camps – as the Gaza Strip became for 1948 refugees.

But faced with a severe shortage of all essential items, the inability to rebuild homes flattened by Israeli forces due to the Israeli economic blockade preventing the entry of building materials and tools, many Gazans may not have much choice.