CRI听力:Worries Not Fading One Year since the Gaza War

It has been one year since the start of last year's military conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Although the current situation is relatively quiet, people on both sides are not optimistic about the future.

Gaza resident Jalal's house was totally destroyed during last year's Gaza war. After staying in a shelter of the UN's Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, for three months, he and his family now live in a rented flat.

"UNRWA promised to rebuild our house, but until now nothing has been renewed. When we talked to UNRWA, they said there's no money to rebuild houses now. They just gave us four month rental to rent a flat."

Talking about the future, he is depressed.

"Is there any future for Gaza? (bitter smile) The war will return again. We will return to the same circumstances. It will become worse and worse. The future is dark for Gaza."

The conflict last year between Israel and Gaza started on July 7 and killed over 2,100 Palestinians and more than 70 Israelis in 51 days.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a UNRWA spokesperson in Gaza, says the situation in Gaza is deteriorating, and is even worse than before the war.

"There's a great delay in the reconstruction process. A small amount of building materials is getting into Gaza. It's functioning for the minor damage, but for the severe-damaged shelters and the totally-demolished shelters, actually nothing happened. The economic situation is collapsing. It's a complete tragedy. Actually you can say there's no tomorrow in Gaza."

Last month, UNRWA closed all remaining shelters it had created to accommodate Gazans who were left homeless as a result of the Israeli military offensive last summer. The agency had rented and paid for new houses for displaced Palestinians for the next four months.

However, UNRWA is facing a structural deficit of more than 100 million US dollars, and will cut employees and may even cut its school system for half a million Palestinian children across the Middle East if the deficit is not filled.

Abu Hasna calls on the international community to take actions to help Gaza and UNRWA.

"The blockage must be lifted. This is the main cause for all the problems, for all the frustrations that Gaza is facing. Also we need money. We need an urgent help of the international community to cover our deficit. The lack of money affects our regular programs, education and health. It will have severe consequences on the Palestinian refugees in the future. We need also building materials to get faster into Gaza."

Across the border, on the Israeli side, life is also not easy for the residents.

Danny Cohen, a resident of Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha, which is less than 2 kilometers from the border with Gaza, says the recent rocket hits have brought them back to the fear and concerns of one year ago.

"There's quite a bit of disappointment that nothing has changed. We are living in the anticipation for the next time. We always feel we are before and after (the war), we cannot see the future any quiet or calm. Every time that something happens like last summer, things get worse and tougher. When you work in the field and always have to look towards the border to see what's going on, and when you find a tunnel dug to your field, this is something other people cannot really understand."

An underground tunnel dug by Hamas towards the Kibbutz was found and destroyed by Israeli army two years ago. The tunnel, narrow for only one person to get through, is 1.6 meters high, 15 to 30 meters deep and about 3 kilometers long from Gaza. It is supported by concrete arches and is equipped with electric and communication wires.

Major Nir Peled, deputy operations officer of the Israel Defense Forces' Gaza division, says they have found different types of tunnels.

"This tunnel, like just any other tunnels, was dug straight towards our communities inside our territory. In larger tunnels, wider tunnels, we found other obstacles, explosives, different types of weaponry, also a few motorcycles which are supposed to enable the terrorists to drive through quickly towards our side and then back to the Gaza Strip with soldiers or civilians kidnapped."

Despite the relative calm over the past year, Peled says the army keeps alert on Hamas' efforts to rebuild their forces and tunnels.

"We are going to maintain high-tech intelligence abilities to make sure that we are prepared and we won't be surprised if Hamas will decide to act next time. As we did last summer that in every occasion that Hamas try to surprise our forces, maneuver towards our communities, we managed to send our troops and to overcome those threats before they managed to come towards our communities."

For Israelis living near the border, the repeated scenario of war and calm shouldn't be continued.

Ori Raz is head of the emergency team in Kibbutz Nirim, which is 2 kilometers from Gaza.

"Every one or two years, you have a war, then you have one year silence, I don't think it's the right way. I think it's not good for anyone, on either side of the fence. It's very difficult to live here, when you know that next war is a question of time."

Anat Heffetz, another Kibbutz Nirim resident, says the only solution is a political one.

"I think we need to talk to Hamas. I think we need to support and advance the reconstruction of Gaza. There needs to be an opening of the cross borders, with of course very strong security measures ensuring the safety of people. Leaving things the way they are means there's going to be another round of violence very very soon. Recent history proved that military operations are not the answer. There needs to be a very strong shift in the Israeli policy."