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.
UNEMPLOYMENT 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!
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 Shaimá 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 Alá 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, Shaimá 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!
-51!
How much?
-51! -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.