ZIAD IN GAZA

Someone says: “It is better that your mother did not witness these horrible days we are going through.” I believe this. I am grateful that my mother did not have to go through another escalation, to feel the fear and to be evacuated from her home.

My mother’s safety used to be my big worry. She was an elderly, overweight woman who could barely walk. One time there was bombing and everyone in the building evacuated, but we used to live on the fourth floor so there was no time to go down the stairs at her pace. I remember her, sitting on her couch, with me covering her body with mine, telling her that she will be safe.

Is my mother safe now? In the past, a graveyard in Gaza was bombed. Will the graveyard where my mother is buried be bombed? Will I be able to go and cover her grave with my body and tell her she will be safe?

I miss my mother a lot.