Born in Gaza (2014) Movie Script
THIS DOCUMENTARY WAS FILMED
DURING THE OFFENSIVE OF ISRAEL
AGAINST GAZA IN 2014.
SUCH OFFENSIVE
ENDED UP WITH 506 DEAD CHILDREN
AND 3,598 WOUNDED.
THIS FILM IS DEDICATED TO THEM.
BORN IN GAZA
The situation is really complicated.
We have a war every two years
and we cannot stand it.
People close to us die pretty often.
The sea is closed.
Tunnels are shut and we can't bring
neither food nor money.
We can't do anything.
I quit school to help my family.
I collect plastics in the dumps,
as well as debris,
and I eventually sell them.
I help my family with the money I get.
It is too hot and I find it difficult
to bear it, since I am young.
I pick up plastics and debris.
I am given 5 Shekel
at the end of the day for them.
Sometimes,
we find bombs among the debris.
We take them out with care
in case they explode and hurt us.
Hopefully, we will be able to work
in a better environment after the war.
One day, I found a megaphone.
It was weird but also a good thing.
I found it in the bottom of the garbage.
I sold it for 50 Shekel which is
what I usually earn for 10 days of work.
I took the money to my family.
I was very lucky.
80% OF GAZAN POPULATION
DEPENDS ON HUMANITARIAN AID
IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.
UNEMPLOYMEN HAS INCREASED FOURFOLD
IN THE PAST TWO DECADES
TO REACH A 45%.
SHEJAYIA NEIGHBORHOOD
My dad used to have
a soft drinks factory.
We were once in the factory
and people started to shout at us
to run away.
We got out and the factory
was bombed immediately.
I got scared and felt sorry.
It was also our home.
I went back to recover some stuff,
but I could not find anything.
Let's see if we can recover
something valuable.
Something useful.
Careful with that wall, OK?
Do not fall over.
My brother Mohamed loved me very much
and took me with him all the time.
He was 22.
I saw how he died in a bombing.
He was delivering beverages
when he was hit
and I saw it myself.
The largest piece of him left
was this size.
I have lots of bad dreams.
I cannot sleep.
I see my brother and my uncle.
My dad's name is Yafar Khdeir
and he is a farmer.
He grows cucumbers,
tomatoes, peppers and spinach.
Our farm is not even
one mile from the border with Israel.
When they come,
they kill and destroy.
This time it was the camel and the lambs.
They destroy everything
that they find in their way.
Our farm has 75 acres.
The diggers have destroyed our farm
11 times between 2001 and 2014.
They devastated our land
with their diggers for no reason.
We are pacific farmers.
We have nowhere to live anymore.
We do not even have drinking water
and we have no money
to work the land again.
We have been lucky this time,
because no one in our family
nor in the neighborhood was killed.
However, the previous time,
one of our neighbors
and a lot of people were murdered.
We grow vegetables.
We do not grow bombs, so they don't have
any reason to come bomb us.
24,000 FAMILIES MAKING A LIVING
FROM THEIR FARMS
HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LEAVE
THEIR LAND AND PROPERTIES.
ABOUT 42,000 ACRES OF FARMLAND
WERE AFFECTED
DURING THE CONFLICT.
AL SHIFA HOSPITAL
GAZA CITY
They said last Friday
there was a ceasefire but again,
missiles started to fall.
We decided
we needed to run away from home.
When we were by the Omar Ibn Al-A'as
mosque, a missile fell.
We were reached by grapeshot.
I was reached in my belly
and my guts came out.
Stop!
Stop it!
Stop it!
I passed out
before I arrived to the hospital.
I don't remember anything.
I woke up at the ICU and I was told
I had been there for two days.
After surgery, the doctor told me
my heart had stopped beating twice.
I have been here for 17 days,
since beginning of August.
I have to be grateful
because some children have died
and others are way worse than me.
I am a child.
They should not do this to us.
I do not have any missiles
and I do not drive a tank
or anything like that.
I am not a militiawoman.
Why are they doing this to us?
RAFAH CITY
My dad was a good man.
He saved lives.
I do not know why he was murdered.
We were always worrying about him
because we didn't get to see him
very often.
He drove an ambulance.
We could never think
he could be bombed in the ambulance.
My dad worked more in this war
than in previous ones.
Many casualties are happening.
That is why
he was being called every time.
Explosions were heard everywhere around
and he kept being called
to pick up wounded people.
My dad died on August 1, 2014.
Up, up, up... Come on...
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Oh, my mum. Oh, my mum!
God is the greatest.
Get to the ground...
He went to pick up a victim.
On his way there,
another family had been bombed.
They were seven members
and my dad also picked them up.
They were all in the ambulance.
The explosion was so rough,
that the pieces of bodies got mixed up.
The twelve of them died.
The remainders of the ambulance
were not even visible. It all got burnt.
RAFAH CEMETERY
RAJAF'S DAD TRIBUTE
We could not see my dad
because there were barely
any distinguishable piece.
Only three relatives
attended his funeral.
They were scared,
so it was done very quickly.
I think my dad is a hero.
A hero among heroes.
He saved lives
and avoided more deaths.
6 AMBULANCE DRIVERS
AND 13 PARAMEDICS DIED
WHILE PICKING UP WOUNDED PEOPLE
DURING THE OFFENSIVE.
OTHER 49 DOCTORS,
NURSES AND AMBULANCE DRIVERS
AND 33 AID WORKERS WERE WOUNDED
DURING THE ATTACKS.
YABALIA GIRLS' SCHOOL
UNITED NATIONS
We were bombed in the school.
This place isn't even safe anymore.
Suddenly, we heard the first missile.
It hit the restrooms.
Then, another one.
The second missile killed
half of the people.
We cried and were scared to death.
We ran away.
We then heard the last missile,
which hit my cousin and my brother.
It fell between both of them.
Both died on the spot.
We are here
because we thought it would be safer,
since it has the UN flag.
We thanked God
for finding us a safe place.
We were surprised
a UN school was bombed.
We do not trust
the UN anymore after that.
You skipped from 10 to 16.
-I have called 16 to become hoarse.
-I have the 10.
Mahmud.
Mahmud Barhouma.
22 people have died in this school
because of the bombing so far
and 80 more are wounded.
GAZA CITY
We were eight kids at the beach.
We came to play soccer.
A missile was shot.
We saw the smoke and ran off.
They are just little kids.
They are just little kids.
Oh, my God.
My hands and legs
were all covered in blood.
I was grabbing my brother,
my nephew and my cousin,
holding their hands.
I told them, "Run! Run!
Leave me here!
I can carry on by myself."
Then... another missile fell
and killed the three of them
as I kept running together with Hamada.
Oh, there are four children? Five?
Four guys, there's also one injured.
My God, where is the rest?
Come! Help us!
Motasem and I were wounded,
but I could still run.
Some people were calling us.
They shouted, "Come! Come over here!"
And I went.
When I got there,
some hotel worker carried me.
First thing they did
was try to stop the hemorrhage.
They put me in the ambulance
and I was taken to the hospital.
All four dead kids
belonged to the same family.
They were all cousins of mine.
Their names were Mohamed, Ismail,
Zakariya and Ahed.
I was in the hospital for 7 days.
A lot of grapeshot
could be retrieved from my body
but this one, in the chest,
is pretty complicated.
I may need to go abroad for surgery.
I have some broken tendons
in my hand and I cannot move it right.
I have some grapeshot
in my back, hand and legs.
Four of us got killed
for playing soccer
and the other four of us got wounded.
What will they do to us
when we grow up?
I was with Shaim and Mohammad.
We were sitting at home.
I was playing
when the Israelis bombed our house.
Shaima and I cried for help.
A nurse named Al
came and took us to the hospital.
I asked him for some cold water.
He then took us
to the Al Shifa hospital.
You turned it on again!
My name is Haia Mohammad.
I am 6.
Bisan is my aunt
but we are the same age.
They were home.
She was playing
when they were bombed.
My aunt Bisan cried,
"I want some water!
I want some cold water!"
An ambulance came and rescued them.
They took my aunt Bisan first.
Then, my uncle Adham
and my grandparents
and then, Shaim and Dana.
Bisan is sad
because her mom and dad are dead.
We now live together, like sisters.
We play all the time.
I would like to be a doctor
when I grow up.
Bisan would like to be
an English teacher.
She doesn't talk to us
about what happened.
If anyone asks, she gets mad.
Who is this?
Mom.
How about this?
My brother.
How about this?
Dad.
After they ruined the land,
we have to smooth it and fix it.
We need to dig another well,
build up the restrooms,
make the greenhouses,
start growing again
and set up the hoses.
We are afraid of walking around our land
because there are missiles
that did not explode.
We are afraid of stepping
on one of the missile that can explode.
I would like to be an agronomist.
I would like to be able
to go to school with no fear,
like a regular person.
Without bombs.
Without having my home destroyed.
I would like to be calm
and live like other children
in the world.
I often think about our situation
and I never see an end.
My dad was an ambulance driver.
He had been driving
an ambulance for 17 years.
He used to collaborate
with the Red Cross.
He picked up the bodies by the tanks.
That was his duty.
I cannot find
a reason why he was attacked.
Are you asking me
why they bombed an ambulance?
Have you ever heard of any war
where ambulances are attacked?
This has seriously determined
our future for wrong.
My older brother was a very good student,
with high grades
but he will probably have to quit school.
I have a sister
who used to study Science
and she was thinking about moving
to Literature because it is easier.
However, she doesn't think
she can keep going.
My little brother seems to see a spirit.
It scares him to death
and also scares all of us around.
We are worried
this issue
can keep affecting him in the future.
He wakes up at night
and stands in front of my dad's picture.
We find him standing there crying.
If we ask what's wrong, he says,
"I am sick and tired
of looking at the picture.
I want my dad out of there."
We all think his future has been ruined.
I am proud he was my dad.
He was very sweet to me
and made all our dreams come true.
We had a very special relationship.
We were very close.
It was indescribable.
No one could imagine
he would be gone like this.
He has been taken in a terrible way.
I cannot sleep. I often have bad dreams
with my brother,
my nephew and my dead friends.
I have weird feelings.
I tell my mom every day I want to die.
A few days ago, I tried to jump
from the balcony but my sister held me.
My dad is a fisherman
but the sea has been blocked.
We are only allowed to fish
five miles away from the shore
and there is barely any fish there.
We live...
a shitty life.
Sea, land...
All is blocked. Everything.
I am like any other child.
This is not life for us.
We do not even have food. I have to sell
coffee and tea to make a living
in order to bring some money home.
I have no friends left.
I stay home. I don't even want to play.
I would like to join the resistance
and make justice for my cousins.
I would like to be a fisherman
when I grow up, just like my dad.
I would like to be like
any other kid in the world with no fear.
I do not want see
those war ships over there.
PALESTINIAN FISHING BOATS
CAN ONLY GO SIX MILES FROM SHORE.
3,600 FISHERMEN'S FAMILIES
HAVE BEEN AFFECTED
BY THE CONFLICT.
YABALIA GIRLS' SCHOOL
UNITED NATIONS
Lady, please, go in.
Back off!
I said back off!
We did not move.
Go do your job!
You have nothing to do here!
Come on! Hurry up!
We have been here for 35 days.
We do not have breakfast.
Just one meal a day
and the food sucks.
We basically sleep on top of each other.
We have no TV or fans.
We have no privacy.
We are not free to do anything.
Here are lots of kids and noise.
I would like to be a doctor.
I have suffered a lot.
I have to travel to Israel
because I am sick, really sick.
I have cancer.
I would like to help sick children
like I have been helped.
I can't go to the hospital
until there is a ceasefire.
I can barely sleep.
I always have the bombing on my mind.
I am worried about the people out there,
my relatives, my siblings.
AL SHATI
REFUGEE CAMP GAZA CITY
My grandfather came
as a refugee from Yafa.
He had to stay here in Gaza.
My dad was born here and so were we.
We might need to be refugees again,
like those at Al Shifa hospital,
or in schools.
I quit school two years ago
to help my family.
My dad can't work anymore.
I am working instead.
Mohamed, would you, please,
hand me another bag of tea?
My mom is sick. She has a liver problem,
a thyroid problem and diabetes.
I have two mentally handicapped sisters.
I am the only one working
and bringing some money home.
You get really tired
and then you can't wake up in the morning.
Stay home when it gets dark.
Do not go out then.
Get some rest, baby.
Do not go out.
Get a right job
instead of what you are doing now.
Get a better job. Learn a profession.
This job affects me too much.
I have no money
for gloves or right clothing.
I had an accident once
when I was on my way to Yabalia.
I accidentally end up hanging
from the horse reins by the neck
until a man saw me and saved me.
I spent four days at the ICU.
I like fishing but it also scares me.
Every time there is a Palestinian boat,
Israeli war ships shoot them.
Many sailors have died.
They stop our boats
and take our nets away.
They kidnap and take us as hostages.
Even so,
the sea is a good place to work in.
I would like to be a fisherman.
I was born in the sea.
I love the sea and the sea loves me.
I would love to fish
and always be by the sea.
I would like to have my own boat
when I grow up
so I could take my family
fishing with me.
1,475 PALESTINIANS DIED BETWEEN
JULY 7 AND AUGUST 26, 2014.
70% OF THE DEAD CHILDREN
WERE YOUNGER THAN 12 YEARS OLD.
3 MONTHS LATER
Already three months
have passed since the accident.
No one is helping us.
They write down our names,
personal details,
phone numbers
and they promise and promise
but they leave and forget about us.
Ramallah's government,
Fatah's, Hamas's and many others
tell us that they are going to help us
but they lie.
We received many invitations
to go and celebrate the victory.
Once we got there, they reminded us
the accident and they gave us this.
Ahed and Zakariya's picture.
Zakariya used to sleep here.
Ismail and Ahed there
and Motasem and I there.
I used to play hide and seek and soccer
here with my cousins
every day.
What the four of us who survived need
is help.
We need some sort
of psychological treatment.
We need to be taken abroad for help
and forget what happened.
We keep remembering everything
on and on.
Motasem is the most affected of us all.
He is way worse than us.
Sometimes,
he starts screaming all of a sudden.
He sees his brother's spirit.
He gets very tense and starts crying.
No local psychologist
has been able to help him.
Please, take him away
so he can be helped.
Please, help him!
Help him forget what happened!
He is the most affected of us.
He sees stuff every day.
He sees dead kids.
Neither my dad
nor my uncles or cousins
have gone fishing again
since the day of the accident
due to the psychological situation
we have.
They are not capable
of going out on the sea.
That is where
the missile that killed Ismail fell.
We all ran towards the beach.
Two more missiles reached us. The other
three died over there and we were wounded.
Tie it up.
Tie it up. Do not leave it loose.
It is tight already.
OK, then. Come over here.
Please, help me with those ropes.
Grab them.
Put them there,
where the other one is.
Lift them and put them below.
That's it. There.
We will go today
to see if our boats are working
and we can go fishing again.
Slowly, slowly.
I will take it off.
Little by little.
OK. It is out already.
Remove the rest yourself.
Bisan is one of the victims
brought to me
at the beginning of the war.
She had a wound.
While sleeping,
her eyelid remains open and exposed
to possible ulcers in the cornea
provoked by the wind.
She needs surgery to fix the eyelid,
remove the swelling
and graft some eyebrow hair.
No one makes eyebrow implants here,
so she needs to go to
a plastic surgery center abroad.
Could you hold this, please?
I will hold it.
Is that OK?
There you go. See you!
Don't you say goodbye?
Say goodbye.
Alright.
-Goodbye!
-Bye.
-Thank you.
-Goodbye!
BISAN FINDS MORE DIFFICULTIES IN
COMUNICATING EVERY DAY
DUE TO THE POST-TRAUMATIC
STRESS DISORDER SHE SUFFERS.
OVER 400,000 CHILDREN
ARE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED.
-Sit down here.
-I don't want to.
-Sit down here.
-I don't want to!
We went back home
when the war was over.
It was on August 25.
We were not happy
when we got back home
because we had lost my brother
and my cousin.
We were happy to be back but not
happy on the other hand.
It is very hard to lose my older brother
just like that. He lived with me.
I have got so many memories of him.
Some things are forgotten but some
others come back in my dreams.
Are you done?
Almost.
Please, put it here afterwards.
The onion is done already.
I will fill this
and you put that in the water.
I missed some of my medical
treatment because of the war.
I could not go to the hospital
because of the bombs.
No one could go out.
I have now gone to the hospital
for physical treatment
but not the psychological one.
We are all traumatized from the war.
Suffering has driven people crazy.
We get scared
just by hearing a slamming door.
Grab your pencil and draw
whatever comes to your mind.
Whatever you feel like.
We have one leisure hour
in our school program
in order to help us to forget
the effects of the war.
We like this hour
because we laugh, play
and try and forget the war
and bad memories.
I wish there were
no more wars after this one
but I have got the feeling there
will be more.
It is the same old story
every one or two years.
It has been three months
since our house was bombed
and nothing has happened.
We cannot rebuild our home because
we have no money
and the Israelis don't allow
to bring building material.
I am really afraid
of coming here in case
there are explosives
or the house falls down on us.
This is where
my brother and I used to sleep.
The living room
and the kitchen were over there.
This is where my brother
and I played every morning.
We used to have a swing.
We played here every day.
We are back in the school now,
but we do not have
any water or power supply at home.
We can't study like this.
We don't know what to do.
Winter is coming
and we are still in the street.
My dad is seeking any kind of work
in order to support us.
We have lost three houses
and the factory
from where we made a living.
We could rebuild our house,
but we will always be afraid
of another war to
come and destroy it again.
I was happy for the war to end.
I was sleeping when I was told so.
When I heard the shots in the air
and the fireworks, I was very happy.
I went out to celebrate with my friends
and shared candy.
We thought the border crossing points
would be opened after the conflict
and there would be work.
We would be better.
It turns out
we are now worse than back then.
GAZA HARBOR
Let the auction begin!
-40!
-50!
-50!
-51!
How much?
-51!
-53!
-53!
-54!
-55!
-55!
Sold! 6 boxes for 55.
I now work for a man at the harbor,
carrying boxes and gas bottles,
some boxes with fish too.
I get along with this.
I earn 30 Shekel a week.
We go to the harbor
every morning by 5:00 or 5:30 a.m.
When the auctioneer arrives,
we stand behind him.
Boxes!
When an auction is done,
we move on to the next one.
We grab the empty boxes
and take them away.
We write down the name of the buyer
and the amount of boxes.
Bring the boxes here.
I work no matter how hard it is,
because I need to support my family
and save them from starvation.
I do not care
whether it is hard or not.
I need to make a living this way.
I love the sea.
I was born by the sea.
I would love to be in the sea all my life,
swimming and living in it.
Leave all problems behind
and keep living my life in the sea.
BORN IN GAZA
THANK YOU TO ALL THE CHILDREN
AND THEIR FAMILIES
FOR OPENING UP
AND SHOWING US THEIR LIVES.
DURING THE OFFENSIVE OF ISRAEL
AGAINST GAZA IN 2014.
SUCH OFFENSIVE
ENDED UP WITH 506 DEAD CHILDREN
AND 3,598 WOUNDED.
THIS FILM IS DEDICATED TO THEM.
BORN IN GAZA
The situation is really complicated.
We have a war every two years
and we cannot stand it.
People close to us die pretty often.
The sea is closed.
Tunnels are shut and we can't bring
neither food nor money.
We can't do anything.
I quit school to help my family.
I collect plastics in the dumps,
as well as debris,
and I eventually sell them.
I help my family with the money I get.
It is too hot and I find it difficult
to bear it, since I am young.
I pick up plastics and debris.
I am given 5 Shekel
at the end of the day for them.
Sometimes,
we find bombs among the debris.
We take them out with care
in case they explode and hurt us.
Hopefully, we will be able to work
in a better environment after the war.
One day, I found a megaphone.
It was weird but also a good thing.
I found it in the bottom of the garbage.
I sold it for 50 Shekel which is
what I usually earn for 10 days of work.
I took the money to my family.
I was very lucky.
80% OF GAZAN POPULATION
DEPENDS ON HUMANITARIAN AID
IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.
UNEMPLOYMEN HAS INCREASED FOURFOLD
IN THE PAST TWO DECADES
TO REACH A 45%.
SHEJAYIA NEIGHBORHOOD
My dad used to have
a soft drinks factory.
We were once in the factory
and people started to shout at us
to run away.
We got out and the factory
was bombed immediately.
I got scared and felt sorry.
It was also our home.
I went back to recover some stuff,
but I could not find anything.
Let's see if we can recover
something valuable.
Something useful.
Careful with that wall, OK?
Do not fall over.
My brother Mohamed loved me very much
and took me with him all the time.
He was 22.
I saw how he died in a bombing.
He was delivering beverages
when he was hit
and I saw it myself.
The largest piece of him left
was this size.
I have lots of bad dreams.
I cannot sleep.
I see my brother and my uncle.
My dad's name is Yafar Khdeir
and he is a farmer.
He grows cucumbers,
tomatoes, peppers and spinach.
Our farm is not even
one mile from the border with Israel.
When they come,
they kill and destroy.
This time it was the camel and the lambs.
They destroy everything
that they find in their way.
Our farm has 75 acres.
The diggers have destroyed our farm
11 times between 2001 and 2014.
They devastated our land
with their diggers for no reason.
We are pacific farmers.
We have nowhere to live anymore.
We do not even have drinking water
and we have no money
to work the land again.
We have been lucky this time,
because no one in our family
nor in the neighborhood was killed.
However, the previous time,
one of our neighbors
and a lot of people were murdered.
We grow vegetables.
We do not grow bombs, so they don't have
any reason to come bomb us.
24,000 FAMILIES MAKING A LIVING
FROM THEIR FARMS
HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LEAVE
THEIR LAND AND PROPERTIES.
ABOUT 42,000 ACRES OF FARMLAND
WERE AFFECTED
DURING THE CONFLICT.
AL SHIFA HOSPITAL
GAZA CITY
They said last Friday
there was a ceasefire but again,
missiles started to fall.
We decided
we needed to run away from home.
When we were by the Omar Ibn Al-A'as
mosque, a missile fell.
We were reached by grapeshot.
I was reached in my belly
and my guts came out.
Stop!
Stop it!
Stop it!
I passed out
before I arrived to the hospital.
I don't remember anything.
I woke up at the ICU and I was told
I had been there for two days.
After surgery, the doctor told me
my heart had stopped beating twice.
I have been here for 17 days,
since beginning of August.
I have to be grateful
because some children have died
and others are way worse than me.
I am a child.
They should not do this to us.
I do not have any missiles
and I do not drive a tank
or anything like that.
I am not a militiawoman.
Why are they doing this to us?
RAFAH CITY
My dad was a good man.
He saved lives.
I do not know why he was murdered.
We were always worrying about him
because we didn't get to see him
very often.
He drove an ambulance.
We could never think
he could be bombed in the ambulance.
My dad worked more in this war
than in previous ones.
Many casualties are happening.
That is why
he was being called every time.
Explosions were heard everywhere around
and he kept being called
to pick up wounded people.
My dad died on August 1, 2014.
Up, up, up... Come on...
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Oh, my mum. Oh, my mum!
God is the greatest.
Get to the ground...
He went to pick up a victim.
On his way there,
another family had been bombed.
They were seven members
and my dad also picked them up.
They were all in the ambulance.
The explosion was so rough,
that the pieces of bodies got mixed up.
The twelve of them died.
The remainders of the ambulance
were not even visible. It all got burnt.
RAFAH CEMETERY
RAJAF'S DAD TRIBUTE
We could not see my dad
because there were barely
any distinguishable piece.
Only three relatives
attended his funeral.
They were scared,
so it was done very quickly.
I think my dad is a hero.
A hero among heroes.
He saved lives
and avoided more deaths.
6 AMBULANCE DRIVERS
AND 13 PARAMEDICS DIED
WHILE PICKING UP WOUNDED PEOPLE
DURING THE OFFENSIVE.
OTHER 49 DOCTORS,
NURSES AND AMBULANCE DRIVERS
AND 33 AID WORKERS WERE WOUNDED
DURING THE ATTACKS.
YABALIA GIRLS' SCHOOL
UNITED NATIONS
We were bombed in the school.
This place isn't even safe anymore.
Suddenly, we heard the first missile.
It hit the restrooms.
Then, another one.
The second missile killed
half of the people.
We cried and were scared to death.
We ran away.
We then heard the last missile,
which hit my cousin and my brother.
It fell between both of them.
Both died on the spot.
We are here
because we thought it would be safer,
since it has the UN flag.
We thanked God
for finding us a safe place.
We were surprised
a UN school was bombed.
We do not trust
the UN anymore after that.
You skipped from 10 to 16.
-I have called 16 to become hoarse.
-I have the 10.
Mahmud.
Mahmud Barhouma.
22 people have died in this school
because of the bombing so far
and 80 more are wounded.
GAZA CITY
We were eight kids at the beach.
We came to play soccer.
A missile was shot.
We saw the smoke and ran off.
They are just little kids.
They are just little kids.
Oh, my God.
My hands and legs
were all covered in blood.
I was grabbing my brother,
my nephew and my cousin,
holding their hands.
I told them, "Run! Run!
Leave me here!
I can carry on by myself."
Then... another missile fell
and killed the three of them
as I kept running together with Hamada.
Oh, there are four children? Five?
Four guys, there's also one injured.
My God, where is the rest?
Come! Help us!
Motasem and I were wounded,
but I could still run.
Some people were calling us.
They shouted, "Come! Come over here!"
And I went.
When I got there,
some hotel worker carried me.
First thing they did
was try to stop the hemorrhage.
They put me in the ambulance
and I was taken to the hospital.
All four dead kids
belonged to the same family.
They were all cousins of mine.
Their names were Mohamed, Ismail,
Zakariya and Ahed.
I was in the hospital for 7 days.
A lot of grapeshot
could be retrieved from my body
but this one, in the chest,
is pretty complicated.
I may need to go abroad for surgery.
I have some broken tendons
in my hand and I cannot move it right.
I have some grapeshot
in my back, hand and legs.
Four of us got killed
for playing soccer
and the other four of us got wounded.
What will they do to us
when we grow up?
I was with Shaim and Mohammad.
We were sitting at home.
I was playing
when the Israelis bombed our house.
Shaima and I cried for help.
A nurse named Al
came and took us to the hospital.
I asked him for some cold water.
He then took us
to the Al Shifa hospital.
You turned it on again!
My name is Haia Mohammad.
I am 6.
Bisan is my aunt
but we are the same age.
They were home.
She was playing
when they were bombed.
My aunt Bisan cried,
"I want some water!
I want some cold water!"
An ambulance came and rescued them.
They took my aunt Bisan first.
Then, my uncle Adham
and my grandparents
and then, Shaim and Dana.
Bisan is sad
because her mom and dad are dead.
We now live together, like sisters.
We play all the time.
I would like to be a doctor
when I grow up.
Bisan would like to be
an English teacher.
She doesn't talk to us
about what happened.
If anyone asks, she gets mad.
Who is this?
Mom.
How about this?
My brother.
How about this?
Dad.
After they ruined the land,
we have to smooth it and fix it.
We need to dig another well,
build up the restrooms,
make the greenhouses,
start growing again
and set up the hoses.
We are afraid of walking around our land
because there are missiles
that did not explode.
We are afraid of stepping
on one of the missile that can explode.
I would like to be an agronomist.
I would like to be able
to go to school with no fear,
like a regular person.
Without bombs.
Without having my home destroyed.
I would like to be calm
and live like other children
in the world.
I often think about our situation
and I never see an end.
My dad was an ambulance driver.
He had been driving
an ambulance for 17 years.
He used to collaborate
with the Red Cross.
He picked up the bodies by the tanks.
That was his duty.
I cannot find
a reason why he was attacked.
Are you asking me
why they bombed an ambulance?
Have you ever heard of any war
where ambulances are attacked?
This has seriously determined
our future for wrong.
My older brother was a very good student,
with high grades
but he will probably have to quit school.
I have a sister
who used to study Science
and she was thinking about moving
to Literature because it is easier.
However, she doesn't think
she can keep going.
My little brother seems to see a spirit.
It scares him to death
and also scares all of us around.
We are worried
this issue
can keep affecting him in the future.
He wakes up at night
and stands in front of my dad's picture.
We find him standing there crying.
If we ask what's wrong, he says,
"I am sick and tired
of looking at the picture.
I want my dad out of there."
We all think his future has been ruined.
I am proud he was my dad.
He was very sweet to me
and made all our dreams come true.
We had a very special relationship.
We were very close.
It was indescribable.
No one could imagine
he would be gone like this.
He has been taken in a terrible way.
I cannot sleep. I often have bad dreams
with my brother,
my nephew and my dead friends.
I have weird feelings.
I tell my mom every day I want to die.
A few days ago, I tried to jump
from the balcony but my sister held me.
My dad is a fisherman
but the sea has been blocked.
We are only allowed to fish
five miles away from the shore
and there is barely any fish there.
We live...
a shitty life.
Sea, land...
All is blocked. Everything.
I am like any other child.
This is not life for us.
We do not even have food. I have to sell
coffee and tea to make a living
in order to bring some money home.
I have no friends left.
I stay home. I don't even want to play.
I would like to join the resistance
and make justice for my cousins.
I would like to be a fisherman
when I grow up, just like my dad.
I would like to be like
any other kid in the world with no fear.
I do not want see
those war ships over there.
PALESTINIAN FISHING BOATS
CAN ONLY GO SIX MILES FROM SHORE.
3,600 FISHERMEN'S FAMILIES
HAVE BEEN AFFECTED
BY THE CONFLICT.
YABALIA GIRLS' SCHOOL
UNITED NATIONS
Lady, please, go in.
Back off!
I said back off!
We did not move.
Go do your job!
You have nothing to do here!
Come on! Hurry up!
We have been here for 35 days.
We do not have breakfast.
Just one meal a day
and the food sucks.
We basically sleep on top of each other.
We have no TV or fans.
We have no privacy.
We are not free to do anything.
Here are lots of kids and noise.
I would like to be a doctor.
I have suffered a lot.
I have to travel to Israel
because I am sick, really sick.
I have cancer.
I would like to help sick children
like I have been helped.
I can't go to the hospital
until there is a ceasefire.
I can barely sleep.
I always have the bombing on my mind.
I am worried about the people out there,
my relatives, my siblings.
AL SHATI
REFUGEE CAMP GAZA CITY
My grandfather came
as a refugee from Yafa.
He had to stay here in Gaza.
My dad was born here and so were we.
We might need to be refugees again,
like those at Al Shifa hospital,
or in schools.
I quit school two years ago
to help my family.
My dad can't work anymore.
I am working instead.
Mohamed, would you, please,
hand me another bag of tea?
My mom is sick. She has a liver problem,
a thyroid problem and diabetes.
I have two mentally handicapped sisters.
I am the only one working
and bringing some money home.
You get really tired
and then you can't wake up in the morning.
Stay home when it gets dark.
Do not go out then.
Get some rest, baby.
Do not go out.
Get a right job
instead of what you are doing now.
Get a better job. Learn a profession.
This job affects me too much.
I have no money
for gloves or right clothing.
I had an accident once
when I was on my way to Yabalia.
I accidentally end up hanging
from the horse reins by the neck
until a man saw me and saved me.
I spent four days at the ICU.
I like fishing but it also scares me.
Every time there is a Palestinian boat,
Israeli war ships shoot them.
Many sailors have died.
They stop our boats
and take our nets away.
They kidnap and take us as hostages.
Even so,
the sea is a good place to work in.
I would like to be a fisherman.
I was born in the sea.
I love the sea and the sea loves me.
I would love to fish
and always be by the sea.
I would like to have my own boat
when I grow up
so I could take my family
fishing with me.
1,475 PALESTINIANS DIED BETWEEN
JULY 7 AND AUGUST 26, 2014.
70% OF THE DEAD CHILDREN
WERE YOUNGER THAN 12 YEARS OLD.
3 MONTHS LATER
Already three months
have passed since the accident.
No one is helping us.
They write down our names,
personal details,
phone numbers
and they promise and promise
but they leave and forget about us.
Ramallah's government,
Fatah's, Hamas's and many others
tell us that they are going to help us
but they lie.
We received many invitations
to go and celebrate the victory.
Once we got there, they reminded us
the accident and they gave us this.
Ahed and Zakariya's picture.
Zakariya used to sleep here.
Ismail and Ahed there
and Motasem and I there.
I used to play hide and seek and soccer
here with my cousins
every day.
What the four of us who survived need
is help.
We need some sort
of psychological treatment.
We need to be taken abroad for help
and forget what happened.
We keep remembering everything
on and on.
Motasem is the most affected of us all.
He is way worse than us.
Sometimes,
he starts screaming all of a sudden.
He sees his brother's spirit.
He gets very tense and starts crying.
No local psychologist
has been able to help him.
Please, take him away
so he can be helped.
Please, help him!
Help him forget what happened!
He is the most affected of us.
He sees stuff every day.
He sees dead kids.
Neither my dad
nor my uncles or cousins
have gone fishing again
since the day of the accident
due to the psychological situation
we have.
They are not capable
of going out on the sea.
That is where
the missile that killed Ismail fell.
We all ran towards the beach.
Two more missiles reached us. The other
three died over there and we were wounded.
Tie it up.
Tie it up. Do not leave it loose.
It is tight already.
OK, then. Come over here.
Please, help me with those ropes.
Grab them.
Put them there,
where the other one is.
Lift them and put them below.
That's it. There.
We will go today
to see if our boats are working
and we can go fishing again.
Slowly, slowly.
I will take it off.
Little by little.
OK. It is out already.
Remove the rest yourself.
Bisan is one of the victims
brought to me
at the beginning of the war.
She had a wound.
While sleeping,
her eyelid remains open and exposed
to possible ulcers in the cornea
provoked by the wind.
She needs surgery to fix the eyelid,
remove the swelling
and graft some eyebrow hair.
No one makes eyebrow implants here,
so she needs to go to
a plastic surgery center abroad.
Could you hold this, please?
I will hold it.
Is that OK?
There you go. See you!
Don't you say goodbye?
Say goodbye.
Alright.
-Goodbye!
-Bye.
-Thank you.
-Goodbye!
BISAN FINDS MORE DIFFICULTIES IN
COMUNICATING EVERY DAY
DUE TO THE POST-TRAUMATIC
STRESS DISORDER SHE SUFFERS.
OVER 400,000 CHILDREN
ARE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED.
-Sit down here.
-I don't want to.
-Sit down here.
-I don't want to!
We went back home
when the war was over.
It was on August 25.
We were not happy
when we got back home
because we had lost my brother
and my cousin.
We were happy to be back but not
happy on the other hand.
It is very hard to lose my older brother
just like that. He lived with me.
I have got so many memories of him.
Some things are forgotten but some
others come back in my dreams.
Are you done?
Almost.
Please, put it here afterwards.
The onion is done already.
I will fill this
and you put that in the water.
I missed some of my medical
treatment because of the war.
I could not go to the hospital
because of the bombs.
No one could go out.
I have now gone to the hospital
for physical treatment
but not the psychological one.
We are all traumatized from the war.
Suffering has driven people crazy.
We get scared
just by hearing a slamming door.
Grab your pencil and draw
whatever comes to your mind.
Whatever you feel like.
We have one leisure hour
in our school program
in order to help us to forget
the effects of the war.
We like this hour
because we laugh, play
and try and forget the war
and bad memories.
I wish there were
no more wars after this one
but I have got the feeling there
will be more.
It is the same old story
every one or two years.
It has been three months
since our house was bombed
and nothing has happened.
We cannot rebuild our home because
we have no money
and the Israelis don't allow
to bring building material.
I am really afraid
of coming here in case
there are explosives
or the house falls down on us.
This is where
my brother and I used to sleep.
The living room
and the kitchen were over there.
This is where my brother
and I played every morning.
We used to have a swing.
We played here every day.
We are back in the school now,
but we do not have
any water or power supply at home.
We can't study like this.
We don't know what to do.
Winter is coming
and we are still in the street.
My dad is seeking any kind of work
in order to support us.
We have lost three houses
and the factory
from where we made a living.
We could rebuild our house,
but we will always be afraid
of another war to
come and destroy it again.
I was happy for the war to end.
I was sleeping when I was told so.
When I heard the shots in the air
and the fireworks, I was very happy.
I went out to celebrate with my friends
and shared candy.
We thought the border crossing points
would be opened after the conflict
and there would be work.
We would be better.
It turns out
we are now worse than back then.
GAZA HARBOR
Let the auction begin!
-40!
-50!
-50!
-51!
How much?
-51!
-53!
-53!
-54!
-55!
-55!
Sold! 6 boxes for 55.
I now work for a man at the harbor,
carrying boxes and gas bottles,
some boxes with fish too.
I get along with this.
I earn 30 Shekel a week.
We go to the harbor
every morning by 5:00 or 5:30 a.m.
When the auctioneer arrives,
we stand behind him.
Boxes!
When an auction is done,
we move on to the next one.
We grab the empty boxes
and take them away.
We write down the name of the buyer
and the amount of boxes.
Bring the boxes here.
I work no matter how hard it is,
because I need to support my family
and save them from starvation.
I do not care
whether it is hard or not.
I need to make a living this way.
I love the sea.
I was born by the sea.
I would love to be in the sea all my life,
swimming and living in it.
Leave all problems behind
and keep living my life in the sea.
BORN IN GAZA
THANK YOU TO ALL THE CHILDREN
AND THEIR FAMILIES
FOR OPENING UP
AND SHOWING US THEIR LIVES.