国际英语新闻：War ended, but homeless Palestinians have no where to go

JABALIA, Gaza, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- With all their belongings ona donkey cart, Ali's family came to the UN-run school in northern Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp before sunset on Thursday, only to find that the temporary settlement has already been fully accommodated.

    His family waited outside the school compound amid endless sighs and babies' cries. As night falls, they all have one question in mind: "Where should we go?"

    Figures released by the Palestinian bureau of statistics said over 4,000 homes were totally destroyed and 17,000 others damaged during Israel's three-week offensive towards Gaza. Thousands of Palestinian civilians in the war-ravaged strip have swamped the UN-run schools for seeking protection during the conflict.

Homeless Palestinian Muhammed Abdu-Rabi walks near his temporary shelter in Gaza, Jan. 22, 2009. Muhammed lost two daughters and his house in the conflict

UN officials decided to leave one school in Jabalia among dozens of others across the Strip as a temporary settlement for the homeless, but the school can only hold 1,500 people at most.

    Hamad el-Banna, a 13-year-old boy, and his family have sheltered in the Jabalia school, but with the advent of ceasefire, the school may not hold them any longer.

    "The area of my home was besieged, and we ran for our lives under the fire. They (Israelis) targeted our house and leveled it to the ground and we had nowhere to stay," Hamad described his nightmare of how he and his family rushed all the way to seek shelter in this school when Israeli massive attacks started.

Homeless Palestinian Muhammed Abdu-Rabi sits at his temporary shelter in Gaza, Jan. 22, 2009. Muhammed lost two daughters and his house in the conflict.

    Since Israeli troops began pulling back from the territory on Jan. 18 and Hamas pledged a week-long truce, calm has reigned the coastal enclave for five days. The schools across the Gaza Strip are going to restart classes.

    "We were living in schools and they brought us food. After the war ended, they told us to come back to what used to be our homes," said Najela, a mother who lost one of her sons during the bombardment.

    "But everything is destroyed. We looked through the rubbles of what used to be our house trying to find our belongings but could hardly salvage anything," she said.

    "We have no electricity, no gas, no drinking water and we have so many children, how could we live in the shattered house," she added.

    However, those schools insisted to resume soon. "Despite how serious the destruction is, we insist that life must go back to normal, that's why we announced that schools are going to resume on Saturday, even though there are schools that were destroyed," said a person in charge of the schools, requesting anonymity.

    "We are going to try and place some students in other buildings and probably make different shifts," he added.