In Gaza, the Bulldozers Have Run Out of Fuel to Recover Bodies. And This Is Still the Beginning.
Under the “complete siege” ordered by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated significantly, resulting in what Palestinian medics describe as “complete paralysis.” Prior to the conflict, the humanitarian conditions in Gaza were already dire, likened to an open-air prison. The current crisis has worsened to the extent that the United Nations has issued an appeal for nearly $294 million in aid to provide for “urgent needs.” With continuous and devastating airstrikes and an order for the northern half of the already densely populated strip to move south, there are ominous signs of an “imminent” ground invasion by the Israeli army.
The enormity of the challenges faced by ordinary Gazans is already difficult to fully grasp. Donatella Rovera, who has been investigating war crimes and human rights abuses for two decades as a senior crisis investigator with Amnesty International, has experience in conflict zones across the globe, from Ukraine to Libya, Syria, Sudan, and beyond. Due to the restrictions on movement in and out of Gaza, she is closely monitoring the situation from France. Rovera emphasizes that the current unfolding crisis, compounded by the preexisting challenges in Gaza, represents one of the most severe situations she has ever monitored. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Aymann Ismail: What have you observed so far?
Donatella Rovera: Obviously, there has been the attacks that were carried out by Hamas. Those attacks that were directed at civilians were clear violations of international law. There is no need to investigate it. There is no debate; it’s crystal clear. And then there are the attacks that Israel has been launching against the Gaza Strip. And those, of course, need to be investigated on a case-by-case basis. There are legitimate military objectives in Gaza, and it is not unlawful for Israel to strike those. The question is, of course, how the attacks are carried out.
This is where it gets difficult. The civilian population is being absolutely pounded from every direction even by Gaza’s standard, which has become worse and worse over the years. The level of destruction, the level of disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks that have leveled entire streets … this is really unprecedented.
The humanitarian situation is absolutely disastrous because nothing is getting into Gaza, and we are talking about a situation that was not normal to start with. Gaza was already in a coma situation before last Saturday because Gazans endured 16 years of blockade and a significant number of military attacks which have destroyed homes and infrastructure over the years. It’s one of the most densely populated territories in the world, where people cannot leave and cannot receive what they need where they are at the best of times. Now it’s absolutely disastrous.
How have things on the ground shifted since the Israeli army asked half the population to evacuate northern Gaza?
It makes it unimaginably worse. Moving more than 1 million people from the north to the south wouldn’t be possible even in the most developed and well-resourced places on the planet. And it certainly cannot happen in Gaza. To give more than 1 million people 24 hours to move is just an impossibility. Those who have got vehicles don’t have fuel because there isn’t any anymore. There are bombardments all around. There are entire roads that vehicles can’t even access because they’ve become piles of rubble. There are people with disabilities who cannot move. There are people in hospitals in the north. So such an order is just unthinkable.
Can you describe any particular experiences that you think highlight the situation?
Somebody I was talking to this evening, like, 3 hours ago, 12 members of their family were killed—three children, five women, and four men—because the neighbor’s house was bombed without warning. The whole family was wiped out. And another guy who lived across the road who was downstairs because he was going to get a haircut. … There had been no warning. In total, 16 people were killed in the span of a second. This was a three-story building where their whole extended family lived. When I spoke to them tonight to follow up on their cases, they were rushing to leave Gaza City. They have no idea where to go. They don’t have people they can stay with in the south.
Some of the people that also had to move are people who were injured in a bombardment and are in a very delicate situation. They couldn’t even be kept in the hospital because the hospitals are really only keeping the most serious cases. And this is like the fate of hundreds and hundreds of families, in terms of having lost loved ones and their home just in the past six days. And then now the people are being told they have a few hours to leave. They have every reason to fear that while they are gone, those homes that had not yet been bombed will be bombed.
If we look at the nature of how indiscriminate and wide-ranging the scale of the bombardments has been over the past six days, what will it be like when over 1 million civilians are no longer there? The loss that has already happened is off the charts. And the loss that is going to happen in the coming days, there is every reason to fear that—I mean, apocalyptic is the term that comes to mind when I see the images and videos that our fieldworkers are sending from Gaza and what other people are posting. And we may not see those images anymore because, as of two hours ago, I’ve lost contact with a lot of people. It’s absolutely terrible. [Editor’s note: Ismail interviewed Rovera on Friday night.]
Have you heard from anyone who will not be evacuating the north?
I’ve spoken to older people who don’t want to leave their home because that’s where they have lived all their lives. That house is what they have worked their whole lives to build, and they fear that if they leave, it will be destroyed. And this time, there is very good reason to fear that. And, of course, they have nowhere to go. People are in the street. Some hours ago, I spoke to a woman, the wife of somebody I know. I was trying to find him, and she and her two children were sheltering in the courtyard of the main hospital in Gaza City, where thousands and thousands and thousands of civilian residents took shelter. And they are literally on the floor, on the ground in the open area, right next to piles of dead bodies, because hundreds and hundreds of people have been killed in the past six days.
Oh my God.
And many are still under the rubble. It’s not been possible to get them out because there aren’t enough bulldozers. There is so much rubble that in many streets the bulldozers can’t even reach the houses where the people are buried. And because fuel has now become in very short supply, there isn’t enough fuel for the bulldozers. And even those bodies that have been recovered from under the rubble, not all of them have been identified. In some cases, the entire family was killed, so it’s a question of finding people from the extended family to come and claim the bodies. So, there are piles of bodies and there is no longer room in the morgue, which is absolutely overflowing. Bodies are outside because the hospital is completely full. People are being treated on every square inch of floor space in the hospital, on the floors of wards and corridors. So, the dead bodies are outside right next to where people are sheltering because there is nowhere else.
The kind of trauma that this is inflicting, especially on the young ones—children are the majority of the population in Gaza. The consequences that this will have on these kids will be for years to come. It’s frightening to think about.
Do the children even know what is happening? Or why it’s happening?
A child is somebody who’s below age 18. Gaza has been under a blockade for 16 years, during which there has been Israeli military operation after Israeli military operation. So, children who are 7, 8, 10, and more, this is not the first war that they have experienced. But this is far worse than anything they’ve experienced before. Do they know what is happening? They certainly know that they’re being bombed, that their homes are being destroyed, that everything around them is being destroyed, that their relatives are being killed, that they may be killed.
I was talking a couple of days ago to a woman who has two young children, and she was saying, “I hold my children tight, and I’m aware that my body really isn’t enough to protect them from bombardments. So I keep thinking, Should I send them to separate relatives so that if there is a bombardment in one place, then they don’t both get killed?” A mother shouldn’t have to think about making those choices. It really is among one of the worst situations that I’ve seen people trapped in. I’ve been working in wars all over the world for sort of the past 25 years. And the extent to which so many civilians are so trapped with so little option, it’s really among the worst that I’ve seen.
You used the word apocalyptic. Is there any hope left at all?
There has to be hope because there are more than 2 million people who live in Gaza. And there has to be some hope. The reaction of the international community so far has been shameful. That is the word that comes to mind. … Of course, the attack that Hamas militants carried out against civilians inside Israel is unacceptable. It has to be condemned in the strongest terms. But that cannot be something that is used to give carte blanche for all-out revenge, because the civilian population of Gaza cannot, should not, must not be made to pay for crimes that they have not committed. It’s not as if they can choose to stay in Gaza or leave because they can’t leave. They can’t choose who governs them and what they do. If the Israeli army cannot stop Hamas militants carrying out the sort of attack and atrocities that they did last week, how can the civilian population of Gaza stop them?
But there has to be hope and there is hope. And you know where the hope is coming from? From ordinary Palestinians and ordinary Israelis. We have seen Israeli relatives of people who were killed and who were kidnaped by Hamas militants come out and say, “Not in my name.” “There is suffering on both sides.” “We need peace.” And, likewise, we’ve seen ordinary Palestinians saying, “Of course, we condemn the fact that Israeli civilians were killed and kidnapped.” Among the people who have suffered the most, we are finding voices of reason.
But there is every sign that the situation is worsening. And that is when you know the voices of reason should be heard. This is the time to make the difference between all-out revenge and respect for international law, because no country is above the law.
How can humanitarian organizations get help to Gaza if everything is shut down and closed?
Right now? There is nothing. There is no help going into Gaza.
We just have to watch as everything falls apart for these people?
That’s what the world has been doing for the past six days. Yes. Unfortunately.
