Life In Gaza - Sorrowful stories from Gaza

Sorrowful stories from Gaza

“I’m talking to you and I’m expecting to be bombed at any single moment . You can’t imagine how horrible our life is now ,” says 19-year-old Areeg Hammouda from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza , a place where most of the bombs are targeting civilians . “Bombs are everywhere. Everyone is a target for the Israeli war planes . Children, old people, mosques, schools. No one is safe .”

In the 26 days since Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip began, my family had many displaced families coming over to stay at my house . “On the fifth day of the war an Israeli bomb went off in our yard. Our house was destroyed , rocks , dust , glass was all over the places inside the house , “We were all home at the time. It was a miracle that we survived ,” she explains with tears in her eyes.

“On the 12th day of the war, the Israelis bombed my uncle’s house,” she continues. “Two of his children died and a third is in very critical condition. He lost two of his children. My uncle is an old man, a peaceful man. He has no weapons, he has nothing to do with politics. But they bombed his house anyway. " Their only fault was that they were playing peacefully in front of the house ".

In a desperate sorrowful voice , Areeg continues talking about how miserable life is in Gaza now , people are running out of food , there is no healthy drinking water because actually all water tanks are damaged , families are without electricity for days , " everything is hard " she continues , people who lost their houses are homeless now and they sleep at United Nations schools as a shelter and a rescue , but as she said " schools are target for Israelis too" . " The lives of people staying at United nations schools is unbelievable as she explains , they sleep on the floor , garbage is everywhere , children are suffering and " the scene is really painful too " 

Areeg whose in her 3^rd year of University studying nursing,  continues her sorrowful story hoping that she ,  her friends , family and neighbors survive this harsh war . “We’re living in a prison, we can’t leave our house,” she bemoans. “In 26 days I didn’t leave the house except when it was bombed , then we returned back . We just stay in the house, praying to stay alive. Children are terrified , they keep screaming and crying and there is no way to calm them down.  They can't sleep because of the nonstop random bombings.  None of us are safe. People are dying everywhere and no one is saying anything. The only ones who are dying in this war are women, children and civilians. We need the people to do something, to start acting for people in Gaza.”

 Wiping her tears softly Areeg continued, " I hope that the International world will do something for us here in Gaza , Israel is doing a lot of crimes and massacres knowing that no one will stop them , I am strong , but the only fear I have is losing more and more friends , family members and innocent civilians". 

By Alaa Ibrahim Hammouda/ gaza city