GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The tragedy that befell Yasser Hajj, who lost all his family members on July 10 after Israel shelled his home in Khan Yunis, was followed by isolation. Hajj was forced to leave his destroyed home and had a hard time finding a new place to rent. The building owner's excuse was always the same — “We do not rent to targeted families or resistance members.”

Hajj told Al-Monitor: “I never expected this to happen after I had lost my family, especially because everyone knows my relatives are not members of the targeted resistance [Hamas]. My mother, father, younger siblings and I are not members of the resistance.”

He and his married sister are the only ones left in the Hajj family. They decided to live together as they try and pick up their lives. But each time they looked to rent a home, they encountered rejection out of fear by landlords that their building might be targeted by shelling in a future confrontation with Israel.

“One time, we went to see a building owner who was preaching in a mosque during the war, encouraging and praising the resistance. When I asked him if he had any apartments for rent, he said, ‘I do not rent out to members of the resistance or families whose houses were targeted.’ Is this not hypocrisy?” Hajj said in despair.