Beirut, Lebanon – Israel is waiting for nightfall to bomb Beirut.
The shock waves of explosions, the flight of two drones, and the crash of two warplanes terrify the population – including Palestinian refugees.
Most of the attacks were concentrated in Dahiya, a suburb on the southern side of the capital, reducing the previously occupied area to rubble and killing many civilians.
In neighboring areas, thousands of people fled to resettlement centers to escape the city, due to Israeli attacks.
Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp where roughly 20,000 people typically live within one square kilometer (0.3 square miles), is no exception.
The narrow streets, usually full of traffic, are almost empty, meaning most women and children are fleeing to areas a little further away from the Israeli attack.
Majdi Adam, a 52-year-old Palestinian married to a Syrian, said: “There was a decision made by (my son and wife) that they would not be able to continue living at home for a long time, so they decided to go to Syria.” woman.
He added: “I don't know because I'm used to living in wars… I feel very connected to Shatila and I have more fear of leaving this place than I fear of dying as an Israeli here.”
“But many other people will leave because they fear that what happens in the suburb may happen with Shatila.”
War against the Palestinians?
Since Israel intensified its war against Lebanon at the end of September, it has unleashed a humanitarian crisis and destroyed cities and villages in southern Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut, killing nearly 2,000 people and displacing more than a thousand.
The attacks did not target Palestinian refugees, who live mainly in 12 camps across the country. These sites were built to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from their original lands during the creation of Israel in 1948 – an event known as the Nakba.
During the past week, Israel directly bombed the Beddawi camp in the city of Tripoli in the north, or the Ain al-Hilweh camp in the city of Sidon in the south, and the Al-Bass camp in the city of Tyre.
The attack on Beddawi led to the death of a local Hamas commander, while the attack on Ain al-Hilweh failed to kill the intended assassin: Munir al-Miqdah, a Palestinian general from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an alliance of Palestinian armed groups.
Al-Maqdah survived the attack, but Israel killed his son and four other people.
Israel killed another Hamas leader in its attack wave or busLater, a separate operation was carried out in Al-Kula, a busy transportation hub in central Beirut.
This attack led to the death of three fighters from the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist armed group.
A respected Palestinian figure from Mar Elias camp in Beirut, who belongs to a prominent political movement, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of journalistic work as correspondents during the war, suggests that the camps could become secondary to the war.
He said that the fields in Lebanon are evidence that Israel committed the Nakba.
He told Al Jazeera: “The existence of Palestinian camps – in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria or Lebanon – is evidence of a third Nakba.” “If Israel bombs the fields, it will not be a surprise. “It is natural to hope that they will try to do so.”
Make a difference
The Palestinians, not Lebanon Facing legal discrimination Once you are banned from working in 39 professions with high salaries in two fields, we cannot own property, even by inheritance.
These restrictions Mergulharam 93% Palestinians are in povertyAccording to the United Nations. The Lebanese government believes that depriving Palestinians of these rights prevents them from being naturalized in Lebanon, thus protecting their “direction of return” to Palestine.
Lebanese factions also fear that Palestinians – who are majority Sunni Muslims – might upset the country's delicate sectarian balance and become citizens.
Despite a history of discrimination against Palestinian refugees, many have mobilized to help people affected by the war.
In Shatila, Fatima Ahmed, 48, the owner of a small tailoring shop, quickly joined a group of Palestinian friends and convinced them to help her make blankets for the displaced. Many of them sleep under bridges, on the streets or in shelters.
“We were all nervous not only in the field, but also at the site of the bombing. To understand what was happening, we decided to join together and act. I feel like we are making a difference,” Ahmed, a woman wearing a black hijab, told Al Jazeera in her shop.
Since last week, Ahmed has provided his team of women with 3,000 blankets. We often receive requests for blankets from groups of local volunteers who help displaced people in nearby cities outside Beirut or in Beirut.
Ahmed makes no profit and simply asks humanitarian relief organizations to pay for the materials he needs to make the blankets. Sometimes he and his colleagues personally distribute blankets to people sleeping on the streets.
When asked why she stayed in the camp, she said: “We could die here, but the Israelis could be killed too – and we would find shelter elsewhere.”
Return direction?
According to United Nations Resolution No. 194, Palestinians have the right to return to their original land and receive compensation for the homes they lost.
Israel has long accused the United Nations of trying to protect this right by providing living supplies to six thousand Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon, as it was mandated to do.
As a result, Israel tried to undermine UNRWA, a UN agency that helps the Palestinians, and accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, to pressure Western donors to suspend funding for its operations.
Mar Elias, a Palestinian figure, said that Israel may also use some refugee camps in Lebanon to further displace Palestinians, in the hope that they will move and give up or abandon their right to return.
“The mere existence of two Palestinian refugee camps restricts the narrative of two Zionists,” he said.
He added: “Because we are attacking our fields in Lebanon, it will not be unexpected. “Israel’s goal will be to target Palestinian refugees and undermine our right to return to our homes.”
