What do the people of Gaza face at night?

“Night no longer signifies stillness or sleep, but has become a symbol of terror,” began Ahmed Halabi, a 26-year-old humanitarian activist from the Gaza Strip, describing his experiences in the heart of the city.

Halabi has worked for years providing psychological support to children through volunteer initiatives, but now he finds himself part of the tragedy. He told, “In the late hours of the night in Gaza City, the streets turn into ghostly alleys.

You hear the sounds of mysterious, very loud explosions. They are not rockets or shells, but small, moving machines fired by the Israeli army between the alleys, then suddenly detonate.”

Halabi added, “These booby-trapped robots silently enter neighborhoods, like trained hunting dogs, and then cause massive destruction when they detonate. Suddenly, you find an entire neighborhood obliterated, with adjacent houses collapsing on top of each other, and entire families buried under the rubble.”

Halabi explains that residents have been accustomed to the sounds of aircraft and artillery shelling for months, but this tactic, which has previously been used in northern Gaza, adds an even more terrifying element for the city’s residents: “You never know when or where the robot will be planted.

People don’t sleep, children shiver all night, and women cover their faces for fear that it’s their turn to attack their homes.”

The occupation army expanded its military operations in the northern Gaza Strip—Jabalia refugee camp, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia—at the end of last year, wiping out dozens of residential neighborhoods and their infrastructure using explosive robots, allegedly in pursuit of resistance fighters.

Ahmed concludes, “Gaza has become a city without a night. Night is a time for death and displacement, and day is a time to inspect the rubble or search for a safe place that doesn’t exist.”