ZIAD IN GAZA

 

At the vegetables stand I meet a woman, the owner of an embroidery shop I used to buy products from all the time with my friends. She introduces me to her husband.

“It is confirmed now,” she tells me. “We lost our home and our shop. I am terribly sad, but this is something to deal with after this is all over. My concern now is my only daughter; she refuses to eat and she got sick. We are staying with almost 60 people in a small space.

While walking in the street, I run into a friend of mine, a father of three adorable children. He is with his eldest child, who wore Mickey Mouse pyjamas and yellow Crocs.

My friend told me that he and his parents and brothers’ families fled together. Due to their large group, they divided into two: women and men. The women stayed at a small apartment of a friend of his, and the men stayed at a cafe metres away.

A huge bomb landed nearby. It was very close to the women’s apartment. He says it was the worst night in his whole life. “We couldn’t see anything – it was night and the atmosphere was full of dust. When we reached them, barefoot, all we could hear were the women’s screams.

“I thought someone died. I thought my kids died. But thankfully they were safe. A big door fell over my mother – now she cannot move her left hand. Afterwards I noticed that my wife was repeating one movement at the same rhythm, as if clapping but without her hands touching. I asked her to stop, but she cannot.”

We chat for a while, and he tells me: “I can somehow handle everything we are going through, but the suffering of my children is unbearable. They are always terrified; they are away from their home and they don’t understand why.”

An hour later, I see a young lady I know. She and her mother are visiting relatives who fled to the area we are staying in. We start checking on our mutual friends. When I ask her about someone, she says: “She is having the best days! She and her family fled to the same house that the guy she is in love with fled with his.

“During the period, the families got really closer to each other, and the relationship became official and approved by everyone. Every time I talk to her she shares the struggle and fear they are going through, but a part of her is full of love.”