In December, both Yousef and Maisara refused to evacuate the al-Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, which was under siege by Israeli forces, although they encouraged their families to flee south. By June, al-Shuja’iyya was undergoing its second Israeli invasion, and Yousef (not his real name) and his friend were staying on al-Mansoura Street. They were the only ones there. Both tried their best to hide from the Israeli drones that blanketed the sky.
Yousef and Maisara understood the danger they were in, not only because everything that moved in the area was a target for Israeli drones but also because Maisara was a resistance fighter with the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Yousef isn’t a member of the Qassam Brigades and has not participated in the fighting directly. But he is still a member of the Hamas movement and wants to help out in any way he can. He is also Maisara’s best friend.
In mid-July, Maisara was exposed to one of the Israeli drones, which immediately targeted and killed him. From that point on, Yousef would continue to move around al-Shuja’iyya. He considered himself a kind of caretaker of the abandoned neighborhood. If he found someone dead in the street, he would retrieve the bodies and make sure they got a proper burial. If possible, he would take them to their families, or inform their families of their deaths. He also patrolled the streets to protect the area from looting.
But beyond that, what he really wanted was to be recruited by the Qassam Brigades to fight the invaders of his neighborhood head-on. He stayed behind in al-Shuja’iyya solely for this purpose. At the start of the war, he and his family had been displaced several times, running from death from one place to another within Gaza City. He belongs to a family of 7, and when they all chose to evacuate to the south in December he decided to stay behind with some friends, many of them also in Hamas or supporters of the movement. Some, like his friend Maisara, were also resistance fighters.
Yousef’s story is representative of countless others in al-Shuja’iyya and across Gaza who have joined the resistance against Israel’s genocidal attack, or are supporting it in any way they can. This story was written based on interviews with Yousef’s family members and friends, as well as written testimonies and other materials that Yousef shared with his loved ones.
The battles of al-Shuja’iyya
The Israeli army launched its first invasion of al-Shuja’iyya on December 4 and engaged in a protracted battle with the Qassam Brigades for over three weeks of fighting. The Israeli army suffered heavy losses, and the Qassam Brigades broadcast images of the fighting, capturing footage of burning Israeli tanks and military vehicles.
Yousef and a few of his friends didn’t engage in the fight, but they tasked themselves with helping out the fighters by bringing them food or providing human reconnaissance and informing them of the army’s movements. They weren’t given any orders but did it of their own accord. All of them had grown up in the same mosque circles, an important component of Hamas’s social base.
Yousef used to notice that many of the fighters would gather in front of a restaurant in the neighborhood, and from there they would go out on missions to engage the Israeli forces. They then returned to the same spot afterward before dispersing.
“I saw fighters coming back from battles. I was inspired by the courage they had. They fought fearlessly, like true heroes,” Yousef explained in testimony shared with Mondoweiss. “They were losing everything to defend their homeland and their people. Most of them died, but some are still fighting, and they haven’t retreated.”
In mid-December, Yousef watched a group of five Qassam fighters returning from a mission. An Israeli drone had followed them, and within seconds, three missiles were fired on the group, killing them all. Yousef was only 200 meters away. He and a group of his friends later gathered their remains and gave them a burial.
After the five fighters had been killed, it was reported that the army targeted their homes with missiles, leveling them to the ground.
“Whenever I got the chance to meet up with them or spend time with them when they weren’t out fighting, I knew what I wanted to do next,” Yousef said. “I want to fight like them.”
No one from the Qassam Brigades had ever approached him about recruitment, but he was content to wait and make it known through his social circles that he was available and willing whenever the need arose.
“But maybe it’s not the time for me,” he said.
On December 26, the army pulled out of al-Shuja’iyya, announcing that it had dismantled Hamas’s military infrastructure in the neighborhood. But six months later, the army was back in al-Shuja’iyya again, fighting a second battle. Hamas had regrouped its forces and reconstituted its fighting capacities all across the northern half of Gaza. This time, the fighting was even more fierce than the first round, as Qassam fighters launched RPGs, planted IEDs, and set up ambushes for Israeli forces from Jabalia to Shuja’iyya.
Yousef had remained in al-Shuja’iyya this entire time, moving about and trying to be of use in the battle — if not directly, then at least he could provide as much material support as possible.
In one of his speeches during the war, Hamas’s military spokesperson, Abu Obaida, said that the resistance had recruited thousands of people to replenish their thinned ranks.
“Thousands more are still waiting to join,” Abu Obaida said. Yousef still held out hope that he would be one of them. He prefers it to constantly being on the run from death.
“The occupation has killed everything we know,” Yousef says. “It only gives us more reason to fight.”
After two weeks of fighting during the second Shuja’iyya invasion, the Israeli army retreated again. It had declared victory, but left behind destroyed tanks at the entrance of the neighborhood. Videos released on social media showed as much in the invasion’s aftermath.
A completely destroyed Israeli occupation vehicle was left in Al-Shuja'iyya neighborhood following a fierce confrontation with the resistance. pic.twitter.com/0jwggJPv8i
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 8, 2024
Yousef said that the Israeli army had destroyed all of his neighborhood. “We want life and safety, and they want to exterminate us. They want to kill every Palestinian.”
“Israel thinks that it is terrorizing us with its crimes, but we no longer want anything except revenge for the blood of our people,” Yousef says. “We want revenge for the people Israel killed and let their flesh be eaten by dogs in front of us, and we could not save them. They shot anyone on sight. This is a criminal army, and we must confront it. Everyone on our land must fight it until we eradicate it.”
Building a resistance society
Even though Yousef is not a fighter or a member of al-Qassam, he has received military training, as have many young men in Gaza. Hamas consciously chose to build an infrastructure of resistance that included not only weapons and tunnels but also people with the requisite skills and capabilities.
Yousef and his friends received training from a young age. He was always present at mosques and participated in Hamas events. Many of these events included summer camps that provided youth with basic training. He participated in several camps over the years, starting when he was 14 years old.
Hamas called these summer camps the “Vanguards of Liberation,” which it has held on an annual basis ever since it began ruling Gaza in 2007 up until the outbreak of the current war. The camps accepted people from all age groups, anywhere from 15 to 60 years of age, but were mostly attended by young men who joined training throughout the summer and then graduated. In every area and neighborhood in Gaza, many of these young men were known for their membership in the resistance factions, and around them were dozens of young men who wished to have positions like them in the organizations.
According to statements put out by the Qassam Brigades in previous years, the Vanguards of Liberation camps have trained over 25,000 people at a time.
“The goal behind these camps is to prepare the generation of liberation spiritually, mentally, physically, and behaviorally,” the Qassam Brigades said in a 2015 statement. The training included military and scouting skills, shooting with live ammunition, assembling and disassembling assault rifles, Civil Defense basics, and first aid courses.
Hamas was not the only movement to host such camps. Other resistance factions like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad also held trainings for their own social base, which Hamas encouraged as part of the project of allowing resistance organizations to operate in Gaza unhindered. This has allowed them to practice military actions with complete freedom for years and has spread a general awareness among youth on how to defend themselves. None of this has rivaled the universal conscription of the Israeli army, but resistance organizations in Gaza attempted to close the gap over the years to make up for the asymmetry of power.
This is why Yousef feels he has been groomed for this moment his entire life. “The camps prepared us for such moments, to be ready to face this criminal army that killed our families. Now we are ready, and we are waiting to engage in the fight.”
Yousef already treats himself as a fighter, and he acts accordingly. He has an AK-47, but he doesn’t carry it with him; he keeps it safe in a specific hiding place. He and Maisara used to share it before he was killed. Yousef continues to try to make himself available to his neighbors and childhood friends who are part of the Qassam Brigades, and he already considers himself one of them. He has decided that he will share in their fate.
“I’ve lived among fighters during this war, and I see myself as one of them,” he explains. “And I never once heard one of them complain. Even though we barely eat and we barely sleep. On some days, we only eat a few dates in our pockets. We don’t complain. We’ve all dedicated our lives to defending our people. We lived among them, grew up with them, and now we’re going to fight for them.”
“All the sadness and the destruction motivates me, and all those I love are in Paradise. They’re martyrs who fell before me, and they’re waiting for me to join them. The occupation is creating generations that want to be free at any cost, no matter how much blood it sheds.”
Yousef is not alone in wanting to fight the army, but he is in a unique situation because he is a son of Hamas, and so it remains plausible that he might eventually be conscripted. “When I talk to anyone in al-Shuja’iyya, they all want the same thing. They want to leave an impact, instead of dying helplessly and getting cut up into pieces or being eaten by dogs in the street.”
But not all of those who want to fight will ever be selected, especially those who are not affiliated with Hamas. “They want to die as true heroes, but most of them can’t. They won’t be recruited,” Yousef explains. The Qassam Brigades never recruits anyone outside of the Hamas movement.
“Everywhere in the streets of this city, there are stories about real heroes. We will tell their stories when we win and break the occupation,” Yousef says.
Tareq S. Hajjaj
Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Mondoweiss Gaza Correspondent, and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union. He studied English Literature at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. He started his career in journalism in 2015 working as a news writer and translator for the local newspaper, Donia al-Watan. He has reported for Elbadi, Middle East Eye, and Al Monitor. Follow him on Twitter at @Tareqshajjaj.
From: Mondoweiss