The Free

Hiba’s Last poem before her murder by Israeli bombs in Gaza- Hiba Abu Nada, Palestinian poet and novelist (1991-2023)

from thefreeonline on 1st Nov 2023 by Literary Hub / Hiba Abu Nada

A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation

Hiba Abu Nada, 32, wrote and published her final poem ten days before Israeli bombs killed her and many others on October 20, 2023, in Gaza. She had a B.A in organic chemistry and a master’s degree in clinical nutrition.

In her short life she managed to publish one novel, Oxygen is Not for the Dead. The speaker in Abu Nada’s final poem is an inner I, probably the voice of God welling up inside. Here is an excerpt:

I shelter you
and the children who
are sleeping
as chicks in the lap
of their nest

they don’t walk
in their dreams
because death
towards the house
walks

….

I shelter you
from wound and woe,
and with seven verses
I shield

the taste of orange
from phosphorus,
the color of clouds
from smoke.

Death

Her last post online was on 8 October 2023, when she wrote^[12]

“Gaza’s night is dark apart from the glow of rockets, quiet apart from the sound of the bombs, terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer, black apart from the light of the martyrs. Good night, Gaza.“

On 20 October 2023, she was killed in the Israel–Hamas war, during an airstrike by the Israeli Air Force, which hit her home in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. She was 32.^[13]^[14]

Works

‏الأكسجين ليس للموتى ‏ [Oxygen is not for the dead: a novel] (in Arabic). ‏دائرة الثقافة، حكومة الشارقة،‏, al-Shāriqah. 2017. ISBN 978-9948-23-314-5. OCLC 1032289333 – via Wikidata: Q123139804.

Author Abdalhadi Alijla wrote on Twitter, “With great sadness we mourn one of the most talented Gaza feminist poet and novelist, Heba Abu Nada. Her novel named, ‘Oxygen is not for the dead’. She wrote yesterday,’If we die, know that we are content and steadfast, and convey on our behalf that we are people of truth.’…….. Oh gosh Heba.”

Gaza in Paradise: The Tragic Story of Palestinian Writer Hiba Kamal Abu Nada

2023-10-22 12:31:15 We are in heaven now. A new city will be built there. Those who sing about eternal love there will be Gazans. These are the lines Palestinian writer Hiba Kamal Abu Nada wrote on her Facebook timeline before she was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza. Gaza…October 22, 2023

In “world”

Myth of The Moral Army- Testimonies Israel’s Military Killed Many of Its Own Citizens With Tanks, Missiles – Max Blumenthal

from thefreeonline on 31 Oct 2023 by @MaxBlumenthal –@Grayzone and Sott.net

October 7 testimonies reveal Israel’s military ‘shelling’ Israeli citizens with tanks, missiles

Israel’s military received orders to shell Israeli homes and even their own bases as they were overwhelmed by Hamas militants on October 7. How many Israeli citizens said to have been “burned alive” were actually killed by friendly fire?

Several new testimonies by Israeli witnesses to the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel adds to growing evidence that the Israeli military killed its own citizens as they fought to neutralize Palestinian gunmen.

Tuval Escapa, a member of the security team for Kibbutz Be’eri, set up a hotline to coordinate between kibbutz residents and the Israeli army.

He told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that as desperation began to set in, “the commanders in the field made difficult decisions – including shelling houses and their occupants in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages.”

Failures Leading Up to the Hamas Attack That Changed Israel Forever – Israel News –

A separate report published in Haaretz noted that the Israeli military was “compelled to request an aerial strike” against its own facility inside the Erez Crossing to Gaza “in order to repulse the terrorists” who had seized control. That base was filled with Israeli Civil Administration officers and soldiers at the time.

These reports indicate that orders came down from the military’s high command to attack homes and and other areas inside Israel, even at the cost of many Israeli lives.

A home in Kibbutz Be’eri, demolished by the IDF on October 7th to ‘get Hamas militants’

An Israeli woman named Yasmin Porat confirmed in an interview with Israel Radio that the military “undoubtedly” killed numerous Israeli noncombatants during gun battles with Hamas militants on October 7. “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she stated, referring to Israeli special forces.

As David Sheen and Ali Abunimah reported in Electronic Intifada, Porat described “very, very heavy crossfire” and Israeli tank shelling, which led to many casualties among Israelis.