Ne’man Abu Jarad sat on a tarp on the ground. Around him, canvas sheets hung from cords, forming the walls of his tent. For the past year, Ne’man; his wife, Majida; and their six daughters have trekked the length of the Gaza Strip, trying to survive as Israeli forces wreaked destruction around them.
‘We are still suffering’: A Gaza family’s harrowing year of displacement and survival
Before the war: A cozy life
When they returned to Muwasi, the Abu Jarads found their tent had been robbed – their food and clothes, all gone.
Since then, the weeks blur together. The family finds survival itself loses meaning in a conflict that seems to have no end.
Food has become even harder to find as supplies entering Gaza drop to their lowest levels of the war.
Israel orders evacuations in Gaza after school strike kills 100, Palestinians unsure where to go
Israeli drones buzz overhead constantly. The mental strain wears on everyone.
One day, Ne’man said, his youngest daughter, Lana, told him, “You stopped loving me. Because now when I come near you, you say you are fed up and tell me to stay away.”
He kept telling her, “No, darling, I love you. I just can’t bear it all.”
They all dream of home. Ne’man said he learned that his brother’s house next door was destroyed in a strike, and his own home was damaged. He wonders about his flowers. He hopes they survived — even if the house is gone.
The difference between then and now, Majida said, is “the difference between heaven and earth.”
Far from the warmth and affection of home, the Abu Jarads feel themselves surrendering to despair.
“We are jealous,” Majida said. “Jealous of who? Of the people who were killed. Because they found relief while we are still suffering, living horrors, torture and heartbreak.”
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