My Family Is in Gaza. I Haven’t Been Able to Contact Them in Over a Week.
A Palestinian mother tells her story.
Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 18, 2023.
(Mohammed Abed / AFP via Getty Images)A Palestinian mother and Gaza native spoke to The Nation’s Jack Mirkinson from her current home outside Gaza.
I have lost contact with my family for over a week now since they left their home in Gaza and had to walk for almost 35 kilometers under the bombardment so they could get to Rafah. There’s no network, no electricity, no Internet, so the last thing I heard was a text message from one of the neighbors telling me that they finally made it safe to Rafah. My house in Gaza was also completely destroyed.
I’ve been trying to contact my friends. I’ve been trying to contact my relatives. Unfortunately, there’s no coverage for the official network telecommunication, so I haven’t been able to contact any of them.
My mother is a kidney patient. She has atrophy of both kidneys and she has to go through dialysis twice a week. She hasn’t been able to do that for the past week, which means that her health condition is also deteriorating.
I have no words to explain how I feel. I am very devastated by the situation. Being away and seeing all the news is just heartbreaking because I’m far away and I can’t be in touch with anyone and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Anyone I know is a target and might be a target and will be a target. So all I can do is just scroll down the news and see if, God forbid, one of my loved ones is on the list.
I just got my apartment a year ago and I haven’t been able to live in it yet. And it’s gone. I was there when it was being built. I haven’t even had the chance to see when it was finished. And I knew from the news. That’s more horrific because I haven’t been able to contact my family. They were not the ones who told me. I found out from the news. I saw videos of my whole neighborhood being completely destroyed and leveled to the ground. And I saw my building. I recognized it, and it was all gone.
I witnessed the eruption of the First Intifada in 1987. I was there in 2000 for the Second Intifada. I was still in high school. I was there in all the escalations in 2008, 2012, 2014, in 2021. So I am a firsthand witness to all of these aggressions.
Every time something happens, you think this is going to be the worst thing you’ll ever see. But I believe, even though I’m not there, this time it tops everything that we’ve ever been through.
We’re talking about 3,500 people killed. We’re talking about more than 12,000 people injured. The hospitals have lost control. No functioning, no electricity, no water, nothing. So could it get any worse than this? I don’t know.
I am beyond shocked. What is happening there is, by all means, the definition of a war crime. And nobody is actually doing anything to save those innocent people. 2.2 million people in the largest open-air prison in the whole world are being watched, being killed, and nobody’s doing anything. Nobody’s doing anything to stop these massacres, these atrocities, this genocide against the people of Gaza.
I want Americans to know that we Palestinians are not second-class human beings. Our lives matter too and we deserve to live a normal life. Our children need and deserve to live a normal life. This cannot be tolerated. This cannot be accepted by the whole world. You need to do something.
Your taxes are being sent to Israel so it can buy more weapons to use against Gaza. This needs to stop. The aid needs to stop. The war crimes need to come to an end. And Israel must be held accountable.
Popular
“swipe left below to view more authors”Swipe →I have six siblings, and my understanding is that they are now with relatives in the same house where more than 50 people are seeking refuge. Fifty people in a two- or three-bedroom apartment. They sleep standing. They sleep in shifts for a couple of hours.
And there’s children, about 20 children in that house, no electricity, no water to drink, no food, no medications, nothing. They are completely cut off from the rest of the world.
This is the textbook definition of a genocide, of collective punishment, of war crimes, and nobody’s doing anything.
And there are no words to describe how I feel or how 2.2 million Palestinians are feeling right now.
Hold the powerful to account by supporting The Nation
The chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration reaches new lows each week.
Trump’s catastrophic “Liberation Day” has wreaked havoc on the world economy and set up yet another constitutional crisis at home. Plainclothes officers continue to abduct university students off the streets. So-called “enemy aliens” are flown abroad to a mega prison against the orders of the courts. And Signalgate promises to be the first of many incompetence scandals that expose the brutal violence at the core of the American empire.
At a time when elite universities, powerful law firms, and influential media outlets are capitulating to Trump’s intimidation, The Nation is more determined than ever before to hold the powerful to account.
In just the last month, we’ve published reporting on how Trump outsources his mass deportation agenda to other countries, exposed the administration’s appeal to obscure laws to carry out its repressive agenda, and amplified the voices of brave student activists targeted by universities.
We also continue to tell the stories of those who fight back against Trump and Musk, whether on the streets in growing protest movements, in town halls across the country, or in critical state elections—like Wisconsin’s recent state Supreme Court race—that provide a model for resisting Trumpism and prove that Musk can’t buy our democracy.
This is the journalism that matters in 2025. But we can’t do this without you. As a reader-supported publication, we rely on the support of generous donors. Please, help make our essential independent journalism possible with a donation today.
In solidarity,
The Editors
The Nation
More from The Nation
Pope Francis Upheld the Spirit of Liberation Theology Pope Francis Upheld the Spirit of Liberation Theology
In his criticisms of the church and defiance of traditionalists, Pope Francis continued the legacy of a movement the Vatican itself tried to silence.
Report From Europe: The Center Does Not Hold Report From Europe: The Center Does Not Hold
Frustration with established parties across Europe has created openings the right has been quick to fill. Can a divided left rally in response?
A Pope Who Prays for Palestine A Pope Who Prays for Palestine
Pope Francis, who is in daily contact with Gazans, has consistently called for an end to the Israeli assault and for Palestinians and Israelis to be able to live in peace.
“A Matter of Survival”: Germany’s New Coalition Government “A Matter of Survival”: Germany’s New Coalition Government
Is the country’s latest grand coalition a shaky marriage of convenience—or “democracy’s last bullet”?
Trump’s Deranged Land Grabs Would Make Sense to Big Brother Trump’s Deranged Land Grabs Would Make Sense to Big Brother
His desire for ultimate continental hegemony is leading us on a path eerily reminiscent of 1984.
‘I Have Watched My People Suffer in Ways That Would Shock the World’ ‘I Have Watched My People Suffer in Ways That Would Shock the World’
Dispatches from Gaza on surviving a year of genocide.
Lujayn, Mohammed R. Mhawish, Ahmed Abu Artema, and Hani Almadhoun
