In the middle of the Negev desert, in southern Israel, there is Al-Fura, a Bedouin village that is not recognized by the Israeli authorities.

Before the establishment of the state of Israel, the Negev was home to 92,000 Bedouins – descendants of Arab Muslim shepherds.

But after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, only 11,000 remained within Israel’s borders, according to Adalah, an organization that defends the rights of Arab minorities in Israel.

Today the Bedouins in Israel are estimated at around 300,000. Of these approximately 160,000 live in villages – camps not recognized by Israel, facing enormous difficulties

“Invisible” and unprotected in war

While rocket attack shelters are operating everywhere in Israel, these Bedouins have no right to build to protect themselves. Their villages do not exist on paper. No road sign leads there.

These villages are invisible in the eyes of the Israeli administration. They do not even have basic cleaning and hygiene services, such as garbage collection.

At his home in the Negev desert, Mohamed Hassouna points to the spot where his 7-year-old daughter, Amina, was seriously injured in the head by rocket debris during the recent Iranian attack on Israel.

Amina is the only one injured in the attack in Israel and is fighting for her life in the intensive care unit of Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel.

“We have no shelters,” says Amina’s father, who accuses Israeli authorities of leaving him and his family at the mercy of rockets and rockets.

Hassuna speaks reluctantly to reporters: “they come to take videos of us, but they don’t help us build shelters.”

In the October 7 attack, seven Bedouins were killed by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

With information from APE-MPE, wikipedia

Photo shutterstock