Majed Abusalama answer the phone in Berlin. The start of the interview is delayed, because Majed has just heard that a friend’s family has died in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza. A friend, his wife and their five-month-old daughter died in the attack.
– According to Israel, the southern part of Gaza was supposed to be safe, Abusalama says shocked – and angry.
Abusalama’s own family is also in Gaza. The family followed Israel’s call and left the northern part of Gaza for the central part of the strip.
In Gaza are mother, father and brother with their families and other close relatives, a total of 40 people.
The whole family fled from north to south along the “security corridor” designated by Israel by car, but a bomb also hit one of the cars traveling on that road. The family also considered splitting into several groups so that not everyone would die in a possible airstrike.
– In the end, they decided to stay together so that if the worst happened, everyone would die, says Abusalama.
Worrying about the health of the family is intense.
– Yesterday, a bomb fell directly on the street in front of my family’s residence. A Father who was going to get food for his family died.
Abusalama is a journalist, activist and doctoral researcher at the University of Tampere. He was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in Israel-besieged Gaza, but now lives in Berlin and Zurich.
The interview was conducted on Tuesday before hundreds of people were reported killed in an attack on a hospital in Gaza City. Hamas blamed Israel for the attack. Israel denied carrying out the attack and blamed it on the extremist organization Islamic Jihad.
Abusalama says he lost 15 loved ones within ten days. In the war between Israel and the extremist organization Hamas, more than 3,300 people have already died in Gaza, mostly civilians.
At least 1,400 people have died in Israel. The latest cycle of violent violence started with the terrorist attacks carried out by the extremist organization Hamas on October 7. Almost 200 people are being held hostage by Hamas.
Living conditions in Gaza are unacceptable
As an activist, Abusalama has spoken on behalf of the Palestinians in numerous different organizations and campaigns. He is also active in Palestinian organizations in Finland.
The conditions in Gaza were already very difficult because of the Israeli blockade, he says. Israel has blockaded Gaza since 2005.
– There is a huge shortage of food and water. People have to drink contaminated water, says Abusalama.
Israel cut off water supplies to Gaza, a population of two million, shortly after the Hamas attack, but has reportedly restored supplies to parts of Gaza. For example, the UN food program said this week that the situation in Gaza is worse than ever before.
– Israel has dropped almost as many bombs on Gaza in less than a week as the United States dropped on Afghanistan in a year in the war against ISIS, says Abusalama.
The Israeli Air Force said it dropped in Gaza 6,000 bombs in the first days of the war.
Majed Abusalama says he is disappointed with the international community, which, according to him, does not show the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the reality of the 17-year blockade of Gaza.
– Think if Finns were put in a sauna and the door was closed. They would be given little food for 10 to 15 years.
“I wonder what Israel will do next”
I ask what he thought when he heard about the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
– When I saw that Hamas pushed the fence between Gaza and Israel upside down with a bulldozer, I was overjoyed. I thought, like many Gazans, that Finally Gaza is open, as if the Berlin Wall had been broken, says Abusalama.
He says he feels sorry for all the innocent victims killed in Hamas attacks, and at the same time he has begun to fear the consequences.
– I thought that we would be faced with a terrible destruction. Israel gets a reason to use the most horrible means, he says.
According to Abusalama, the fact that Hamas receives support, especially in Gaza, is explained by history. According to him, it is above all about colonialism, about Israel occupying Palestinian territories. It is not known exactly how much support Hamas receives in Gaza.
– Of course people support resistance in conditions like Gaza, that must be understood, he adds.
According to him, Hamas was born as a result of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians before 1987. Numerous organizations also report on human rights violations.
Before leaving Gaza nine years ago, Abusalama lived with his family in conditions where there was only a few hours of electricity a day. At the same time, Israelis living only a few tens of kilometers away had swimming pools, he describes.
– When I left Gaza, my biggest wish was to get clean water and get a warm shower.
The term genocide emerged
Abusalama describes the ongoing Israeli counteroffensive with the words “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.”
“Genocide” is a very powerful term. We are used to hearing it in connection with the mass extermination of Jews during the Second World War and, for example, the violence in Rwanda in 1994.
So far, the conflict has mostly been described without using these terms, but they have also emerged.
For example, an Israeli historian who wrote about the Holocaust Raz Segal used it to film the strikes on Gaza last week.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese on the other hand, has used the term ethnic cleansing when calling for a ceasefire.
Save the Children appealed on Tuesday for an end to the fighting, saying Gaza hospitals are struggling with water and fuel shortages, and people will soon die of dehydration.
Abusalama believes that even in the midst of difficulties, activism is needed. She is previously cooperated for example, with American Jewish youth activists.
– I believe that we will continue to cooperate. There is no other option.