Gaza expresses solidarity with Shuafat camp with silence

Residents of the besieged Gaza Strip are mulling over ways to express their solidarity with the Palestinian refugee camp of Shuafat in the occupied East Jerusalem, which is currently facing a siege by Israel.  

On Saturday, the Israeli army imposed a full closure on Shuafat camp under the pretext of searching for a suspected Palestinian militant who killed an Israeli soldier. 

The Israeli authorities suspect that Udai Tamimi is hiding in the densely populated camp, home to more than a hundred thousand Palestinians.

According to the Israeli army, Tamimi, 21, approached Israeli soldiers at the Shuafat checkpoint and opened fire at close range-killing 18-year-old Seargent Noa Lazar. Two other Israeli security personnel were injured.

In the wake of the shooting attack, the Israeli military kept the checkpoint shut for the most part but occasionally allowed traffic to pass at a slow pace.

#Shuafat #refugeecamp faces 'siege-like conditions' as #Israel hunts for #UdaiTamimi https://t.co/WnKjPWcznf
Israeli forces reportedly suspect Tamimi is hiding in the area of the Shuafat refugee camp where about one hundred thousand #Palestinians

— PlethoraNews (@plethoranews) October 12, 2022

While the shooting was praised by residents in Gaza, they have noticeably not taken to the streets and dolled out sweets like in previous incidents. 

Social media accounts of Palestinians in Gaza also seem to remain silent on the brewing escalation in Shuafat.

Speaking to The New Arab, some residents argue that most of the Palestinians in Gaza are afraid to lose their work permissions in Israel if they express support while others still await permission to head to Israel for work. 

Other residents say that the Palestinian factions, mainly Hamas, are busy arranging their relations with Israel, Arab counties as well as international counties. 

"I really do congratulate this heroic operation (...) but I cannot share my opinion. I have eight children who need to be fed," Mohammed Ahmed, a Gaza-based worker in Israel, said to TNA. 

"Palestinians will continue their struggle with Israel forever (...) Mostly, we pay the cost of the conflict with Israel. It is the time to let our brothers in the West Bank and Jerusalem fight Israel and stop their crimes against them," he said.  

"For years, we [Gazans] have suffered from the ongoing Israeli wars and their inhumanity consequences. I'm really sorry to say that, but we do not have any power to lose our current improvements in life," the 49-year-old father of three added.

The same opinion was expressed by Gaza-based Yousef Abdul Raziq, who blamed the Palestinian factions for this division. 

"In the past, all the Palestinian everywhere stood with each other and fought Israel as if they were in the same place. However, because of the current Palestinian politicians, who care about their factions and children only, we have lost our power to confront the Israeli," Raziq said to TNA.  

"The only victor in this battle is Israel, while the factions and the people remain the losers," said the 62-year-old elderly man.

On her part, Heba al-Saadawi, a 25-year-old woman from Rafah city in the south of Gaza, believes that it is time for the younger Palestinian generation in the occupied West Bank who are not involved in the local factions to prove to the politicians that they can fight the Israelis alone. 

"They [the young militants] do not have funds, political ideology or even official support, but they have the internal power that both Israel and the Palestinian factions fears," she said.