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the new round of palestinian-israeli conflict has turned one year old. every day in the past year, people in the gaza strip have been living in extreme lack of supplies, enduring the pain of parting from their loved ones and brushing against death. the suffering they endured is a constant reminder to the world that the palestinians have not given up hope or their desire to establish an independent country.

what kind of suffering have the people of gaza experienced during the war and blockade? what are their thoughts and wishes? the observer network contacted a gaza doctor who fled to egypt with his family when the war broke out. he was also an international student who had studied in china, mr. osama alkas, and listened to his account of this incident. experiences and aspirations in tragedy.

[compilation/observer network guo han]

observer: can you share with our readers your experience in gaza over the past year?

alkas:i am a doctor who practices acupuncture. i graduated from guangxi medical university in china in 1993, which was more than 30 years ago. i worked in gaza for both government and private clinics. i have a happy family who live in the city of jabaliya in northern gaza. before october 7 last year, my family and neighbors and i lived a normal and peaceful life. i had a private car, a new car, and my own practice in the basement of my home.

the area where i lived had been heavily bombed since the first day of the war. counting my wife, my five children, and my two grandchildren, a total of nine people were forced to run away from home. we first stayed at a nearby school that served as a shelter for three days, and then rushed to the southern city of khan younis, where we stayed at a friend's house and a united nations school.

when the israeli ground invasion began, we headed toward the border city of rafah among the ruins with shrapnel on our heads. there was no place to live there, so we spent the night in the open air for several days before setting up a tent. we stayed in rafah for a total of five months, and the living conditions there were unspeakably bad. we were short of food, water, and especially warm clothing. in fact, not only my family, but 2 million palestinians live in a state of severe lack of food, water, and various supplies.

when the israeli army threatened to attack rafah, we had to pay a large sum of money to get the chance to leave rafah. if i hadn't done this, there was no way my children would have survived. we ended up in egypt.

observer.com: you mentioned that you took your grandchildren with you on this arduous escape journey. as a parent, in your opinion, how much trauma has the war brought to the children of gaza?

alkas:the children of gaza are the most tragic victims of this war. more than 16,000 children have died in the war. as a result of the genocide carried out by the israelis, a child in gaza still loses a limb every 10 minutes. we cannot count how many people lost their parents forever because the war is still ongoing.

primary schools and universities were closed because they were targets of bombing by the israeli army. children in gaza face the constant threat of death. they are unable to go to school or complete their education and can only live in tents and are homeless. all they can do every day now is to fetch water, collect firewood, and line up at food distribution centers. this harsh living environment has caused huge physical and mental trauma to them, and it will take many years to eliminate it.

observer: according to your knowledge, how serious is the current famine in the gaza strip?

alkas:from october 7 last year to now, all cities in the gaza strip have lost power and water supplies, and communication networks have also been destroyed. the people of gaza live in extreme conditions, and their living standards have regressed back to 100 years ago. the israeli army has blocked various cross-border crossings in the gaza strip, causing local people to suffer from severe famine, unable to find safe and drinkable water sources, and people need to take great risks to obtain food and water. two million innocent palestinians live in fear, have no safe place to shelter, and suffer this simply because of who they are.

no family in palestine is immune to the loss of their home or the death or injury of their loved ones. i have a friend named hamad who drove his whole family during the bombings in an attempt to escape and find a safer place to live. but a group of israeli tanks blocked the entire main road and fired at his car, killing all 4 or 5 people in the car. due to the siege by the israeli army, their bodies were left there for weeks, and no one dared to take the risk to collect them. when the body was finally found, it had decomposed, and the whole family was buried together.

observer network: in this case, the israeli army was clearly attacking civilians indiscriminately?

alkas:that's exactly it. hamad and his family work only a few kilometers away from my home. these people are innocent civilians, but there are many similar stories. to this day, about 50 to 100 palestinian civilians are killed every day, they are fathers, mothers, children. despite this, the palestinians still firmly assert their sovereignty over this land. this is our legitimate rights and interests. we cannot lose hope in national liberation and return to our homeland. we have no other choice.

observer: you just mentioned that gaza’s communication network has been damaged. have you had any contact with inside gaza?

alkas:i can occasionally be contacted. i am the eldest son in my family. although my family and i came to egypt, the other family members stayed in northern gaza, including my mother, other brothers and their families. they have no way to leave because israeli forces block the passage between northern and southern gaza. in occasional phone calls, they all said that they were very short of daily necessities, but there was nothing i could do here. help can only begin if this war is stopped, so the most important thing now is a ceasefire.

to be honest, i think the international community should step up its efforts in calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war. public opinion in many western countries puts pressure on their governments but does not have much influence on the behavior of those governments. because of the pressure exerted by the united states, the whole world is silent.

the late palestinian leader arafat signed the oslo accords with the israeli occupiers in oslo in 1993. why? because we love peace and want to live in peace with the israelis and the rest of the world on the basis of mutual understanding. but the fact is that the israelis refuse to accept it. they do not want peace and do not respect un resolutions. instead, they occupy more land and carry out genocide against the palestinians.

observer network: can you talk about your personal expectations for the future and what you expect from peace-loving people around the world?

alkas:i want to be able to live a peaceful, peaceful life with my family, just like people do in other parts of the world. i hope that this war will end, and that when it does, a free and independent palestinian state will be established, in compliance with relevant united nations resolutions and with the 1967 borders. i also hope to rebuild my home and my clinic with the help of friendly countries and friends.

as palestinians, we also want to thank friendly china for all the support and assistance it has provided us. china is one of the countries that provides the largest assistance to the palestinians. personally, i studied in china 30 years ago. i regard china as my second hometown. the chinese people are very friendly. i still keep in touch with many chinese friends.

we also hope that china can continue to help the victims of this war speak out internationally, support the people of the gaza strip, and help the children here return to normal lives so that they can learn and grow in a safe environment.

this article is an exclusive manuscript of observer.com. the content of the article is purely the author's personal opinion and does not represent the platform's opinion. it may not be reproduced without authorization, otherwise legal liability will be pursued. follow observer.com on wechat guanchacn and read interesting articles every day.