The protagonist is a 40-year-old dentist named Mahmoud Shaheen, who lives in a middle-class neighborhood in a tower in Zahra in northern Gaza, where residents have stable jobs and a decent life.
On 7 October, a seismic shift took place in the midst of successive Israeli bombardments of the Gaza Strip. The inhabitants of Gaza were in a panic, not knowing that the next shell would fall on **.
At about 6:30 a.m. on October 19, Mahmoud was awakened by a loud noise outside, which made him feel uneasy.
Israel is going to bomb the towers! He didn't dare to delay and immediately rushed out of the building to a relatively safe place across the road.
Mahmoud received a strange ** call that frightened him, and an order came from the other end that the three towers were going to be blown up, and ordered him to evacuate the surrounding area immediately.
Mahmoud received a ** from a man named Abu Khalid who spoke very fluently in Arabic. Mahmoud was a little confused, he did not know Abu Khalid's intentions and did not understand why he was "chosen".
However, he knew he had to take responsibility. Under the direction of Abu Khalid, Mahmoud went all out to evacuate the crowd, while also constantly begging Abu Khalid not to hang up**.
Someone in the crowd questioned Mahmoud, thinking that the ** end might just be a prank. Since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, such hoax messages and ** have appeared on social media from time to time.
So, how do you know for sure the other person isn't joking? Mahmoud came up with a coping strategy.
Mahmoud made a bold request to prove the truth of his statements with concrete actions. Subsequently, a gunshot echoed through the air and hit an apartment building.
While Mahmoud wasn't sure about the specifics of the gunshots, he guessed it might have been the drone.
I asked him to ** again, and then to bomb again", Mahmoud recalls the scene. After the second shot, Mahmoud understood that the other party had indeed not deceived him.
Please wait until the crowd has been evacuated before bombing. "That morning, there was chaos around us, and many residents seemed to be still asleep, and they didn't even have time to change their pajamas when they came out.
During the conversation, Mahmoud asked: "Why are you bombing?" The other party did not disclose the specific reason for the bombing, but replied vaguely: "There are some things that we have seen, and you cannot see ......."This is a directive from a higher authority, and we have been ordered to carry out bombing. ”
It can be inferred from this that this person belonged to the Israeli army and may have been a minor leader. The bombing operation was an order from his superiors, and he was simply doing his duty.
After the building was largely vacant, Mahmoud received a notice that the bombing was about to begin. One of the three apartment buildings next to his home collapsed, followed by two others.
Mahmoud and some of his residents witnessed this as their homes, where they had lived for more than a decade, were in ruins.
The smoke of the war cleared, and the news came from **: "The battle is over......You can go back. "I stressed to him that Zahra is a residential area and there are no strangers ...... the neighborhoodI tried to make him understand.
This is not a border zone, and there has never been a conflict between us. It has always been a place away from the flames of war. "Mahmoud could not understand why the Israeli army was doing this.
On the same day, ** sent people to clean up the streets, and homeless people began to look for shelter.
Although some of the houses did not collapse, some residents returned to their homes despite the debris. They happily said, "We're home." "However, when they thought the bombing was over, something more terrifying awaited them.
That night, after finishing his nightly prayers, Mahmoud picked up his phone and found a missed call from an unknown number. His heart was filled with panic, and recalling the events of the morning, he immediately thought of the horrific bombardment.
However, it's not clear to me that the goal is **. It could be my house, or it could be my neighbor's house. Just when Mahmoud was terrified, the strange ** rang again.
* An unfamiliar voice came from the other end that changed the course of Mahmood's life. The person on the other end admitted that he chose to contact Mahmoud again because he saw the shadow of a "wise man" during the events of the morning.
The man, who identified himself as Daoud, told Mahmoud that he knew everything about his life and knew not only his home address, but even the names of his children.
What's more, he told Mahmoud about the location of the upcoming bombing: two buildings next to the three destroyed buildings, and another tower.
Upon receiving the instructions, Mahmoud sprang into action, evacuating not only the residents of the building designated for bombing, but also the adjacent third building, which was too close to each other.
It was dark at night, and the Gaza Strip was without power, and the Zahra area was almost completely dark, leaving the evacuated residents relying on devices such as flashlights and mobile phones for lighting.
During the evacuation, Mahmoud also found various excuses to delay the time until all the residents in the building managed to escape.
Mahmoud thought that everything would be safe, but after receiving a sudden change from **, he was thrilled by the task he was about to face. Originally, the directive called for a change in the bombing target to a whole row of apartment buildings on the east side of the street.
This made him break out in a cold sweat because there were more than 20 towers and hundreds of residences.
Mahmoud knew he didn't have bargaining power, but given the size of the area and its population, he wanted to buy more time. He pleaded, "Let's wait until morning, and those people can go to the ** at night?" ”
However, the other party did not have any room for negotiation and replied coldly: "The order has been given, we must blow up all the towers within two hours." ”
Time is of the essence, and Mahmoud knows that every second counts. He shuttled through the streets, shouting loudly, running from one neighborhood to ......the nextIn the streets and alleys, the exclamations of adults, the cries of children are intertwined, and some children are even separated from their parents in this chaos.
The scene that night was similar to that of the morning, and Mahmoud once again witnessed the instantaneous destruction of the residential area. Everyone present felt deep grief.
In the days that followed, Mahmoud received many strangers, all for the same purpose - to evacuate the masses in the area that was about to be bombed.
Whenever Mahmoud came back from a mission, someone would come and ask, "Doctor, did they call you?" Can we get out of here? Did they tell you who was attacking? ”
Mahmoud kept in touch with them until he could no longer hear ** on the street.
After the voice on the other end of the ** disappeared, Mahmoud felt a hint of peace, but the fear in his heart still did not dissipate. He held his phone tightly, not knowing when the next ** would come, he only hoped that the horrible ** would never ring again.
The street where Mahmoud lived was not completely destroyed, but it was also badly damaged, and he had to leave with his family and temporarily live in a friend's house.
I don't have time to think about my clinic or my house, I just hope that I can live, life is the most important thing, other material things are not important, because we can lose our lives at any time.
So, we shouldn't think too much about that. "In the Zahra area of northern Gaza, there are many successful people, such as entrepreneurs, white-collar workers and doctors like Mahmoud.
Once upon a time, the beach was filled with laughter and laughter, and children played football to their heart's content. However, after that night, only silence and memories remained.