Hazem gave me permission to share these photos of Mustafa, his second youngest brother who turned 18 just a few months ago:
My second youngest brother, Mustafa, was living his dream. After years of hard work and excelling in high school, he finally began his first semester at university last September. Our family was overjoyed, as Mustafa was taking his first steps toward achieving his dream of higher education. Mustafa since he was young loved photography and multimedia design, you would scarcely find him without a camera in his hand. But with the onset of the recent war, Mustafa's dream turned into a nightmare. The conversation shifted from classes and lectures to survival. This year, Mustafa was robbed of his education and his life now revolves around securing the basic necessities—food, water, and safety. Every day, Mustafa rises early to walk for miles on roads exposed to drones and snipers in order to get water for the rest of our siblings. He should be in class, learning photo composition and graphic design, but instead our family depends on him for survival.
Humanitarian zones are shrinking day by day—the iof just issued another order today to evacuate eastern Deir el-Balah (central Gaza), where many families from Rafah and Khan Younis were forcefully displaced to just weeks prior.
Humanitarian food and water distribution sites are now in red "shoot on sight" zones, with no way to reach them. All but one aid truck to North Gaza were intercepted either by the iof or by zionist looters. The UN announced a 300% increase in acute malnutrition cases for children in the past two months in the North.
Just yesterday, there were multiple bombings near Jabalia, where Hazem's family are staying. The number of martyrs are projected to rise, just as the military situation is progressively escalating.
I am consumed by fear that my mother might die in Gaza while I am far away, unable to help her. The thought of her suffering alone in such a dangerous place breaks my heart. I feel so helpless and terrified, knowing I can't be there to protect her or bring her to safety. Every day is filled with anxiety and dread, as I hope and pray for her survival amidst the chaos.
I refuse to use the terms “Israel-Palestine Conflict,” “Israel-Hamas War,” “Gaza War,” etc. You should, as well.
It is not a conflict. It is not a war. It is not some dispute between two equal parties.
It is apartheid. It is ethnic cleansing. It is genocide.
Call it for what it is and stop falling for western propaganda. Stop defending Israel with your wording.
I'm very tired of this "queer college students should stop supporting Palestine, they'd kill you there!" I watched a hijabi ask a trans man, "but what name do you want to go by?" A butch giving a woman their hoodie so that she could keep her hair covered after the cops took her scarf. Muslim girls making sure the lesbian couple got through the system together. Religious men making sure green haired protestors got out safe. A Palestinian girl with an ex-southern baptist fiance, who definitely isn't a practicing Muslim, whose parents were raising hell for her. I don't want to hear it. Solidarity forever, free Palestine.
Save My children 😞💔
"I am Nadine… an ordinary woman in an extraordinary place. A mother, just trying to protect a small life in a world that has lost its meaning." 🌸
Hello, My name is Nadine. I am a Palestinian mother to a little girl who has become the center of my life and the reason for my strength. 💖 We live today in harsh circumstances, unlike anything we knew life to be. Our home is no longer a home… we live in displacement, fear, lack of food, absence of medicine, and a lack of safety. 😔
Yet every morning, I open my eyes to my daughter's face, and I try again. 🌞 Because she is here, I must stay strong. 💪 Because she is small, I need to create a safe world for her… even though my world is broken.
I write these words to share a moment of our reality that you may not see in the news. I’m not seeking pity, nor do I want to burden anyone… All I ask is that my words reach a heart that knows compassion, and understands that help, even in the smallest form, can make a big difference in someone's life like ours. ✨
Life here doesn’t go as it should… but it goes on. We live on hope, the kindness of strangers, words of encouragement, and hands that reach out at the right time. 🌟 Maybe you can’t change everything, but you can change one day in our lives… And one day with dignity is all we need to keep fighting. 💫
Thank you… from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being here, for reading, for not turning a blind eye. To everyone who passed by here and left a kind mark: You are part of our strength. 🌷 From me and my little one: All my gratitude and all my prayers. 💖
We have been through many wars before, but this war was not like the ones before it. Our lives were turned upside down. We became displaced from one place to another. We are the Anas family, residents of northern Gaza, specifically in the Shujaiya area. In the first week of the war, we fled our home because everyone considered our home to be in a dangerous area. We moved to the Rimal area, specifically in the middle of Gaza. There, we received the news that our home, which contained all our beautiful memories, was bombed. Suddenly, it was gone!!! Just thinking that your home, which you worked hard on and built from scratch and took a lot of your life, was gone in less than a second ! After a while, we left the sands to the Al-Zawaida area because of the heavy shelling. We stayed there for about two weeks, and then the terrorist army asked us to go to Rafah. We actually fled for the fourth time to Rafah and stayed there for two months, some of the most difficult days of our lives, as there was no way or means to live a normal life. 😔😔 After that, because of the invasion of Rafah, we moved to Deir al-Balah. Now, we are in very difficult and oppressive circumstances.