WAITING FOR THE SUN. WHEN EVERY MEETING CARRIES LOSS
"The most exciting thing for us is knowing that the donations you are collecting come directly from people for people. When we do aid distributions we explain this to the families: this is made possible by fundraising on the streets in Italy, where each person donates what they can. And people understand this very well".
When we manage to talk to our colleague Saad on the phone, after days of continuous network interruptions that have made it difficult to get updates, he himself is standing in line for a can of water. In the Gaza Strip today, there is not a single person who is not in need of immediate help and is not on the brink of starvation. Yet, despite the inaction of governments, despite the impunity granted to Israel by Western complicity, help from below reminds the people of Gaza that they have not been completely abandoned.
This is what we are told by the colleagues of UAWC - the Union of Agricultural Work Committees -, the Palestinian organisation with which, since the beginning of this genocide, we at Un Ponte Per have built an alliance in order to bring a minimum of relief to the affected population.
A choice, ours, that was not accidental: UAWC is a grassroots organisation founded in the years of the first Intifada, which has been working from below not only during humanitarian emergencies, but also - and above all - to guarantee food sovereignty for the Palestinian population, forced to depend on external aid due to Israeli settlement colonialism.
THE VIOLENCE OF THE SIEGE
Since Israel's breaking of the ceasefire agreement last March, almost nothing has entered Gaza. The resumption of shelling, with unprecedented intensity, has destroyed what remained of the civilian infrastructure, leaving all hospitals unable to provide treatment.
According to UAWC estimates, two-thirds of the Gaza Strip has been identified as 'no-go zones' by the Israeli armed forces: areas where the population is prevented from entering, confined in increasingly densely populated spaces, without access to humanitarian aid, and with the summer heat making the shortage of clean, potable water even more severe.
"While 95 per cent of the population is at risk due to lack of care, food and water, it is estimated that 100 per cent is on the brink of starvation," lə colleagues from Gaza explain. Moreover, the continuous displacement and the speed with which people are forced to move in order to survive and find shelter also makes it difficult to distribute the aid that we are able to provide through the 'Aqua for Gaza' campaign.
The latest distributions, carried out between spring and summer, were often done at night and under the fire of Israeli snipers. The establishment of theGaza Humanitarian Fund(GHI) has further aggravated the situation.
"It is a very violent operation that aims to break even what is left of social ties and solidarity among the population, because people literally kill each other for a sack of flour," they explain from Gaza.
The US- and Israeli-led initiative completely distorts the principle of humanitarian support, setting a very dangerous precedent in crisis management. "Food and aid have been weaponised and militarised," we are told. As the inhuman images that have circulated in recent weeks have shown, with thousands of people locked in cages and bombed while standing in line for a can of water or a sack of flour. The immobility of the international community in the face of all this shows that impunity in the face of genocide 'is the new normal we must get used to', they reflect.
THERE IS THE WORLD... AND THEN THERE IS GAZA
Yet, the Palestinian population of Gaza is not giving up. "I believe that optimism and hope today are revolutionary gestures," reflects Sharif, our colleague from Beit Hanoun, who now works with us in Italy on the 'Water for Gaza' campaign.
"In recent years, we have suffered so much, between the prolonged siege and the constant Israeli military aggression, that in Gaza we have learnt to always find a way to resolve the situation, even when everything seems to be falling apart. I cannot explain how we do it, but we always find a way to cope with even the worst conditions. Now, for example, there is no more fuel in Gaza. People are burning plastic and they manage to run their cars that way. Next to every tent in every camp, women have carved out a piece of land to cultivate something. We refuse to die in silence. The people of Gaza are not giving up".
This is probably also how UAWC's colleagues manage to help the population with the generous donations that arrive from those who follow and support us in Italy. Despite the fact that it is very difficult to find food at the moment because, as they explain, 'the markets have been completely emptied, and because of the blockade of aid, finding food is increasingly difficult'.
COURAGE AND RESISTANCE
Despite this, UAWC still manages to refer to small producers and farmers who do not charge commission on the sale of the products they grow.
This is how, at the end of May, we managed to reach another 2,000 people with food baskets consisting mainly of fruit and vegetables - cucumbers, tomatoes, melons - bought on the local market at the most reasonable prices.
This work is, as always, made possible by the extraordinary network of local committees and volunteers that UAWC has built up over the years in Gaza. And which is punctually reported and documented with videos and photos, despite the inhuman conditions in which our partners operate.
For the distribution of aid, one now relies on hearing. "We adjust according to the intensity of the Israeli shelling. If they are particularly violent for a few days, we stop. When they slow down, we try to figure out how long it will last and determine where we can get to with the distributions,' Saad explains. Always, however, risking his own life to help his people.
Thanks to this courage, we were able to reach another 500 families with water distributions this spring. Since the 'Water for Gaza' campaign was launched, donations from those who support us have enabled us to reach over 50,000 people.
We were able to distribute food and water, repair some cisterns damaged by the bombings, install toilets in the camps for displaced people, and repair tents during the winter. In each of these cases, we relied on UAWC's assessments, sending what we collected from donations to Italy, and letting them decide what was most urgent.
A practice in line with our vision of the alliance in the territories where we operate: not over-determining, but listening to needs and responding as possible. What has been done in recent months remains a drop in the ocean of needs facing the Gaza Strip today, but it is nonetheless a sign that people - unlike governments - know where they stand.
'There is mankind. And then there are the Gazawi people,' smiles Sharif. "Even in the face of unimaginable conditions, even in the midst of genocide, we refuse to give up. We do not give up. The reality we are going through is unprecedented in the world we know. Yet, we continue to hope'.
