From Al Jazeera – read the full story online.
“Gaza City – Jameel al-Karoubi has grown accustomed to his new daily routine over the past nine days.
Every day, he wakes before sunrise. Then, after taking care of whatever his family needs, he and Almond, his donkey, head out into the cratered streets of Gaza to distribute clean drinking water to the people in his neighbourhood from the back of his cart.[…]
Before the war began, the 34-year-old man used to sell vegetables off the back of his cart. Now, since the bombardment began, he and Almond do what they can to make a difference for as many people as possible.
A few years ago, Jameel, whose name means “beautiful” in Arabic, inherited a well after his father’s death.
Now, before he attends to his family’s water needs, he fills two large tanks and walks around the neighbourhood, calling out to his neighbours to bring out their gallon tanks and water bags for him to refill.
Jameel lives with his mother, wife and his four children, and says their well holds enough water to keep his neighbours from going thirsty after Israeli forces cut water and electricity supplies to the enclave more than a week ago.
For Jameel, making that decision was easy, he believes people should stand together as one and is putting that belief into practice.
He won’t accept any money for the water, even though his own working-class family could definitely use it.”