Medo Halimy's Final Interview (Martyred 8/27/2024 by an Israeli airstrike)

yeah so how was your family treated in the war like can you tell us about your journey of course now the first week after that night because as I mentioned before our house was destroyed we had to flee the house and go to a a refugee center now Refugee centers are basically honorable schools that people just lost their houses or or who have been in such such circumstances and situations go to those School and live there temporarily yeah keep going now as I said uh we lived in the school for a week and on the 7th day I believe yes the 7th Day yeah 12th of October 13th October 13th 12 [Music] October October 13th that's when they threw papers at us telling us to flee the North and uh the center of Gaza and go to the South yeah if I really want to tell you the the the exact way of how I was feeling at that moment I I really can't I was really confused I was I was so terrified so sad you know everything was V we didn't know what was going to happen to us after we go to the South we have never been in such a situation and the last time people left their houses in Palestine was 1948 when they lost their houses forever and that's by the way something we're really scared of we are scared that we will never see our houses again yeah we're still we're still are scared we still haven't seen our houses I haven't seen my house since the the first night of the war and it's really scary and it's terrifying it's very saddening but we're just we're just having a little bit of Hope yeah that's uh after the first week as I said we left the uh we left Gaza and we hit it to the South we had no idea where we were going we just went to the South you know hoping to go in a school you know live in a school or something but old schools were super full like imagine a school to to uh to take like a maximum of let's say 600 students 700 students there was 6,000 and 7,000 people in that school it was yeah to be honest no one expected that 1 million people would just go to the South like all the people from the North and the center of Da Gaza just evacuated to the South because and that's not just the first day you know the first day there there were so many people that lived and if I want to describe the scene it looked like it looked just like the NBA but in a modern way yeah remember the photos of the nakba were uh you know there was a lot of people just carrying their their clothes and stuff and bags and donkeys walking on the street yeah in 1948 1948 the same scene this is the same thing but this time with cars yeah okay uh after we went to the South uh luckily we were one of the lucky ones who actually found a place to stay in some people we have never met in our lives offered us a place to stay for the whole family not saying you know uh father mother and siblings I'm saying like aunts I'm saying uncles and grandmother we were around 42 people in a in a 200 ft apartment it was really small and it was super private but we said in the definitely you were like lucky we were compar to the people schools yes and to to the people in streets you were people were in streets other people were in tents and stuff like that yeah we were in a place in an apartment then we stayed there for [Music] around I think we stayed there for around two months and a half 2 months and a half and we went to ra after that yeah the reason we went to ra actually we weren planning on going to ra we we were planning to stay planning staying in hunas they attacked canun they attacked hunas really badly and the night we left it was it was it was the the the next most terrifying night of my life literally that night I can assure you I heard all military machines all all guns all types of uh airplanes I mean aircrafts and stuff like that it was super scary so next morning we just woke up and had our everything so next morning we just woke up and got everything ready and just left an unit we and we lived in a tent can you tell me exactly where in Rafa we lived exactly right on the Egyptian border yeah so like so whenever you're bored you just go to Egypt I Look to I I look at Egypt I I I actually used to do that a lot every sunset and that's actually weird because my whole life I've been used to sunsets on the beach but in ra sunsets were in Egypt like I look at the sun just going down in EG here is the beach by the way that's the beach yeah so yes as I said I lived right on the Egyptian border and uh hold on uh I forgot what I was saying we've been living in a tent ever since it's been like 6 months do you see like what Israel is doing as genocide of course I mean look at the numbers it's definitely a genocide so is it really to stop being Hamas that's a good question like as a civilian what do you think is it really stopping H okay let me tell you something no matter how actually developed Army wise you are you cannot beat an army that's underground it's like fighting the the boogeyman it's like you don't know who you're fighting because you think they're over there and you just go fight them and then like uh in a moment they're not there and just they're just right behind you fighting you so I believe it's really difficult I believe so sorry guys so I so I believe it's really difficult to to beat Hamas or to actually be affecting Hamas with the things Israel is doing yeah so another thing that Hamas is not like an army or something it's like an ideology oh I was I was just going to say that and that's so hard to Hamas Hamas is not an army that you can be beat and once it's be it's done no it's an ideology it's an idea in the Palestinians mind if let's say let's say like hypothetically Israel just killed all Hamas members none of Hamas members is live life they have built an army that's actually way more than the the the current Hamas like everyone who lost a family member a friend exactly spouse whatever they're going to join the new Hamas Hamas is an idea that's in the minds of Palestinians not all Palestinians of course but a lot of Palestinians have the Hamas idea inside of them yeah so like and I want to say something Hamas is not what you guys think it is Hamas is not what the media is trying to show you that that is Hamas is actually a a resistance movement that is you know that's fighting our enemy which is Israel which has been our enemy since 1948 since the neba when they made us evacuate our land and just when we started losing the Palestinian Nation even if I didn't give a [ __ ] about the necra even if I was like an atheist who just got here what's what's my fault like why is my why is my house being momed exactly I'm just a civilian trying to live yeah and Israel is is is literally stopping me from the very very basic rights stopping me from living stopping me from traveling from from getting the good like even before the war we couldn't travel freely we we don't as as I was saying traveling was really difficult because of the siege that blockade that Israel was for foring upon us even water was limited life has been has been help life has been held for the past 10 and a half life has been held for the past 17 years in Gaza for [Music] like there is a famous like saying in Palestinian culture which is from The River To The Sea ban will be free so what does that mean to you well I think well I think it's the well I think it's pretty self-explanatory from The River To The Sea Palestine will be free these are the borders of Palestine River to the sea the borders the original borders before 1948 before the ne before Israelites took the land so do you think Palestinian and Jews can live peacefully together of course we lived with Jews peacefully before as I as I mentioned before 1948 there was a Palestine a Palestinian nation that Jews lived in peacefully with the Palestinians and Palestinians have no problem with that at all our problem is with zionists not with Jews we don't have any problem with Jews matter of fact I have some Jew friends when I lived in the US I made some Jew prins and I didn't have any problems with that yeah and in a matter of fact there is like some ancient Jew temples for Jews like they were built like 1,000 years before that does the Israeli government want this well from what we're seeing I don't think so yeah they definitely they don't want any so can you tell us your point of view about for sure their opinion they could they could actually make a deal with Hamas yeah they could have done that so long ago and stopped all the the life losses that uh all the lives that we we lost lately they could do all that but they refused yeah yes like 40K is not like a silly number it's like 4 those people had a life they had a dream they had goals they had family friends lovers they had and and what about the 100K who was wounded and their life like got DED so bad they didn't lose their life but it was R yeah so what's your memories of 7th of October octob the 7th Saturday yeah it's a very very difficult day for me being honest uh I remember at first we woke up like at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and everybody was confused because nobody knew what was going on we just uh you know heard a lot of missiles being Rockets being launched you know towards the Israelis and stuff like that everybody was confused we didn't know what was going on a lot of people were happy a lot of people were just in shock a lot of people they didn't know what was going to happen and and I honestly I I feel like something bad was going to happen after that I had a feeling and then when it was like around noon 12 p.m. I I went to the market I wanted to buy some stuff just in case something happens so like we have you know some food and stuff uh I can't tell you how the streets look like it was like a dessert it was like a desert nobody was in the streets it felt like it was a Friday afternoon on in just a sunny day in the summer uh and then at night that was that was the worst night of my life that was a turning night in my life the night of October 7th they bombed a land that was right in front of our house with I guess it was like three missiles it was it was it was really bad so do you know anyone like personally who was killed in this ethnic cleansing yes a lot I got my I've got my dear friend Yousef our dear friend our dear friend Yousef rest in peace Yousef uh he was he was a really good friend to me and sadly we lost him yeah he was measuring in Psychology he was like so smart he was graduating early me his so be uh do you know anyone else I've got other like uh extended family members and and other friends yeah yeah so if you care like my aunt was kill in this ethnic ning and the rest of her family like my Aunt their daughters her son so it was really like saddening I know other people who was wounded we all know other people who was wounded like Muhammad arm Hamza ham was our class ham he was our classmate we used to play football all the time so that's very stening and like depressing cut yes uh so can you tell us where is your family like right now like your aunts your your uncles something like that each of us is in in a different place some of them are like on the edges of RA I'm personally in the canun the the beach side of canun some of us are you know some of them are outside of Gaza so like uh we're not all together yeah sadly of course sadly yes