Voices from a Year of Horror in Gaza and the West Bank: Fatima’s story
Colleagues from DRC Palestinian partners share their stories of life under occupation and the past year of horror.
REFORM
Posted on 03 Oct 2024
The last year in Gaza has been one of horror. Yet this devastating conflict is the grim continuation of an already difficult existence shaped by years of Israeli occupation, blockade, and restrictions.
Fatima*, a vital member Women’s Affairs Centre, DRC’s partner in Gaza shares her story of restricted movement, the harrowing past year and her hopes for the future.
Fatima, a widow who lost her husband in the 2000s, dedicated herself to raising her son and daughter. Her daughter had been admitted to a university in Egypt and her son was a year away from completing high school, “Life was normal and beautiful, and we were looking forward to seeing our children, my children, entering their universities.”
Despite the apparent normalcy, Fatima faced many challenges imposed by Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“The blockade had a significant impact on our lives. We provided psychological and social support services to cancer patients. Cancer patients also suffer greatly from the inability to travel outside the Gaza Strip for treatment due to the blockade, costs, and many other reasons,” Fatima recounts also noting multiple times she has struggled to travel abroad for work or to visit universities with her children.
*Names have been changed for confidentiality on the case studies.
Fatima's story
Despite facing relentless challenges, systemic discrimination, and living under an illegal occupation, the people of Gaza show extraordinary resilience and a deep capacity to hold onto dignity and routine in their daily lives.
“Before, our lives were very ordinary. We felt comfortable, living a normal life without pain, sorrow, or loss,” Fatima reflects on her days before the October military assault on Gaza.
“Every day, we would go to work in the morning, and our children would go to school as usual. Our lives had a bit of happiness and joy, with lovely social relationships”.
Yet Fatima could never imagine the events that have unfolded this past year.
My life turned 360 degrees. I live in the north of the Gaza Strip. I held out for almost more than 20 days, there was intense gunfire, aircraft, and shelling all around us. The building I was living in was completely evacuated, and only my son and I remained in the apartment.
/ Fatima, Women's Affairs Centre
Yet, fearing for their safety, Fatima was forced to flee.
Fatima has been displaced multiple times, "in every place we go, there is a kind of suffering. Of course, our suffering in food, in drinking, in sleeping, in the lack of bedding, in the lack of clothes.
We left in October with some clothes thinking we would return again. A light suitcase with only a few shirts and trousers for me and my son, and we didn't know it would last for a whole year.”
Living amidst the violence comes with immense hardships, with daily necessities being incredibly hard to come by, “water, you can't get water. There are long queues of girls, young men, and men to get water, to get bread. This is a big difficulty in our lives and it has greatly affected our lives.
Half the time, we are just sending our children, some to get water, some to get food, some to go to places to get coupons, and so on. This is how life has become”.
Fatima lost nine members of her family in one airstrike, and countless more friends and relatives, “During my displacement in Nuseirat, my brother and some of my nephews were killed. Nine members of my family were killed.”
The devastating loss has had a grave impact on Fatima, “Every day, we hear of the death of a relative or friend, and this honestly caused a kind of setback for me, and
I felt like I wanted to isolate myself from the whole world, and indeed, I felt isolated, that I couldn't face people. Every day a friend or a relative is killed, and this is very painful for me.”
Yet, she is also forced to live in a state of constant fear, that she may also be killed.
This fear of losing someone from your family is very difficult. But also, you might be killed. This feeling of being targeted, always by airstrikes, genuinely frightens you that one day you might be a victim, even though you have nothing to do with it. To be honest, I don't feel safe. Yes, I'm in a concrete room, but all the time, day and night, the aircraft are above us, the sound of the drones is very loud, it fills you with dread and fear that at any moment, I could be among the dead. The shelling is random.
/ Fatima, Women's Affairs Centre
Fatima urges the international community to recognize the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel and calls for support of the plight of Palestinians.
“I want to convey to the world that the world needs to understand that regarding the situation in Gaza, we are part of this land. We are not occupiers, we have the right to live in safety and freedom in our homeland.”
“What I hope for in the end is that the war ends, the fighting stops, and we return to our homes, rebuild, return to our studies, return to our work, and return to our normal lives. I hope that Gaza returns even stronger, with its homes, streets and people and life is even more beautiful.”
Fatima’s message must be heard as a call for action, states must do all in their power to ensure an immediate and lasting ceasefire to ensure Palestinians are able to rebuild their lives with the freedom the illegal occupation has long denied them.
