Dunya is holding a photograph. Seven cheerful faces gaze back at her, capturing a moment from the lives of friends who collaborated and socialized with each other.
She is positioned in the center of the image, radiating joy. Now, her smile has faded. This snapshot was taken just over a year prior, at a birthday celebration near the end of September 2023. Just days before everything changed.
The seven women featured all served on the nursing staff at al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest healthcare facility in Gaza, which is also suspected by Israel of hosting a Hamas command post. When the conflict erupted, al Shifa was bombarded.
Two of the women depicted in the photo have unfortunately passed away.
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‘Traumatised survivors’ left behind in Gaza
Rawan Abu Zbeidah, the woman second from the left in a black headdress, was killed on 11 November alongside her family members while she was pregnant. Anwaar Yassin, situated third from the right, lost her life at the beginning of December, along with her spouse and children, in Nuseirat, located in central Gaza.
All remaining women in the photograph have been displaced and scattered.
Al Shifa Hospital was once the most extensive and advanced medical establishment in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
“The last occasion we gathered was a delightful day,” Dunya recalls. “It was such a lovely moment, just a week before 7 October. We never anticipated it would be our final gathering. Now, all that remains are the photographs we took, our shared memories. Our lives have simply evaporated.”
Dunya escaped from Gaza City and is currently employed at a hospital in Deir al Balah, situated farther south.
“Right now, we’re dispersed across various locations,” she discusses her surviving friends. “One of them is in the northern part, and I cannot reach her. She cannot come here, and I cannot go there.
“A few of them are displaced further south. We make every effort to maintain our communication. We try to meet virtually whenever possible, using video calls, striving to stay as connected as we can.”
‘We can’t bring ourselves to accept the reality of losing her’
Houssam’s daughter, Dareen (depicted below) was killed in an airstrike
Gaza embodies a landscape of collapsed structures and devastated lives.
In Gaza City, Houssam finds refuge in the ruinous remains of Abdallah Al Dayhan School, where his young daughter, Dareen, once attended classes. Although the school has faced heavy damage, it still stands, narrowly safe.
Dareen relocated to the south during the war’s initial phase, believing the city of Khan Younis would provide safety. Instead, she lost her life, together with four relatives, during an Israeli air strike.
Houssam, who remained in Gaza City alongside Dareen’s brothers, is tormented, his eyes devoid of hope.
“Dareen was an ordinary teenager,” he remarks. “She felt secure and had aspirations. She envisioned herself graduating to become a physician. We can’t comprehend the reality of losing her. We longed to support her.”
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Roula continues to teach in Gaza, despite having her home destroyed
Nearby, Dareen’s former instructor, Roula, also finds refuge. She once resided just across the street, but her residence was demolished.
“It is a struggle for students yearning to acquire knowledge,” she states. “I have lost so much. I lost my dwelling, my kin. Several of my cherished students.”“
She persists in educating local children, striving to maintain a semblance of normalcy.
Yet, how can one feel normal when the surroundings are reduced to ruins?
“There is no secure area for students,” she explains. “Schools have been attacked, but we have no option but to continue teaching, despite living in a perpetual state of anxiety. This is not a conducive atmosphere for education – we have no desks, no tables, no whiteboard. No classroom.”
A year has passed since the Hamas assaults on October 7, igniting conflict, and Gaza remains a traumatized region inhabited by troubled individuals – a territory of decimated structures and shattered lives.
