What Happened on Wahda Street in Gaza on May 16, 2021
The violence against Palestinians in Gaza doesn't stop when the bombs stop falling. The trauma and pain oftentimes comes in the aftermath.
We worked with Palestinian videographers from Gaza to produce a video about the aftermath of the horrific attacks in May that killed at least 248 people, including 66 children.
The weapons used were made in the United States, and the bombs that fell on two residential buildings on Wahda Street in Gaza City on the night of May 16 were equipped with GPS targeting equipment made by Boeing in St. Charles, Missouri, just miles from my home.
That terrible night killed members of four generations of the Kawlak family, 22 people from one family alone. They included 89-year old family patriarch, Amin, his son Fawaz, 62, his grandson, Sameh, 28, and his great-grandson, 6-month old Qusai. That same night on Wahda Street, Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, lost her mother and four siblings.
"The area where I live is less than 500 sq meters. It was hit with 70 missiles from F-16 fighter jets."
Watch this video, hear from Palestinians in Gaza, and remember that the catastrophic aftermath of Israel's bombing is ongoing. The blockade on Gaza has not ended. Israel's occupation and destruction of Palestinian lives in Gaza has not ceased.
Our new interview out today with Palestinian organizer and scholar Jehad Abusalim lays bare the history of Israel's control of and violence against Gaza long before the blockade. Israel's only plan for Gaza, he told AJP's Sumaya Awad, is to utilize cycles of violence to maintain the narrative of Israel as the victim and to distract the international community from addressing the root causes of what is happening to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In the conversation with Jehad, we also learn about the more recent role of the Palestinian Authority in demobilizing civil society from effectively organizing to lift the siege on Gaza. Read it here.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to stay updated on the ongoing protests demanding an end to authoritarianism and corruption across the occupied West Bank and the unity intifada that has yet to cease across all of Palestine.
Onward,
Sandra Tamari
