‘My entire face was burned’ – mother on suffering in Gaza

A Palestinian mother of three has told of her young family’s experience of death, injury and desperation during the war in Gaza, in a plea for audiences abroad not to become desensitised to the conflict.

Ilham Ali said her family lost their home in the early days of Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave after it was shelled by Israeli forces, leaving them displaced and forced to flee south.

“We worked hard and saved a lot to build our house, but it was all gone after the bombing,” she said. “But I wish the matter had only been limited to losing our home.”

Ali said 22 members of her family, including her brother and cousins, were killed in a Rafah refugee camp when a tent next to theirs was hit by an Israeli airstrike, with the explosion leaving her and her immediate family with serious injuries.

“My entire face was burned and there were bruises on my body... My son was injured, and my husband was pulled out from under the rubble alive but injured – and he is still suffering,” said Ali.

She described the escape of her immediate family – her husband Muhammad and their three children Hassan, 11, Adham, 10, and Adam, 3 – as “miraculous”.

“It was a huge shock to me. I was unable to scream or cry at the time. I remained silent, neither speaking nor crying.”

The airstrikes left the family with nowhere to go, she said, forcing them to “stay in the street for days under the bombings” amid freezing conditions and without blankets or warm clothes.

“We saw death with our own eyes, and I was very afraid for my children. I cried a lot, and my children were screaming from the severity of the cold, fear and hunger,” she said.

“These painful memories will stay with me forever, I don’t think I will ever be able to forget what I saw; a child without a head, a young man burning before our eyes and dying,” said Ali.

“My children saw these scenes too. I am really hurt that my children saw all of this.”

The mother of three was speaking to Times of Malta through an interpreter from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where the family has been staying for the last three months.

Ali reached out to Times of Malta through a mutual contact to speak about the conditions in Gaza and try to secure help for her family. Times of Malta has independently verified Ali’s location.

During the interview, our call suffered multiple outages which Ali attributed to the presence of a nearby Israeli surveillance drone she said disrupted mobile internet signals in its immediate vicinity.

More than once during our call, Ali sought shelter in a nearby building to escape the drone’s watchful eye.

Palestinian mother Ilham Ali said it caused her pain that her sons had witnessed horrific scenes during the war in Gaza. Her son Adham (right) was injured in an airstrike. Her eldest son Hassan (left and centre) faces long walks for supplies.

‘We never expected our lives to get to this point’

She described her family’s life before the invasion favourably.

“Before the war started, our lives were content and we didn’t need much; I was a teacher, and my husband owned a couple of shoe stores. Our children lived comfortable lives and were sent to good schools,” she said.

“We never expected our lives to get to this point.”

Ali said conditions in the refugee camp were difficult. Its inhabitants were forced to walk “several kilometres” for water and were facing food shortages.

Her family was reliant on food supplies from NGO World Central Kitchen, “but it’s not enough; the food is for three people, and we’re a family of five. So, most of the time we just have one meal a day.” Food collection points were only open once every two days.

“My children are malnourished; they will be walking, then just faint.”

Earlier this month, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council that “food is running out” in Gaza, with starvation rates among children reaching its highest levels last month. Those seeking food “risk being shot”.

This is something Ali said her husband witnessed firsthand. The former teacher claimed one of her husband’s travelling companions had been shot “randomly” by Israeli troops while the pair were on their way to the nearest food kitchen around a kilometre away, an occurrence she said was not outside the norm.

“It’s a 50/50 chance; you either come back with a kilo of flour and canned lentils, or you come back dead.”

She said the refugee camp was comprised of tents packed closely together, sometimes with more than one family sharing the same tent. And when new refugees arrive, families were sometimes forced to move elsewhere.

Meanwhile the family does not appear to be out of danger: “There was nearby bombing a few days ago, and I was very afraid for my youngest child, Adam,” said Ali.

“I was so scared that I hid him inside my clothes so that he wouldn’t be hurt. Stones fell on us, and shrapnel landed on the same place where my children sleep.”

‘Don’t get desensitised’

With conditions desperate and her family continuing to feel in danger, Ali is desperate to escape Gaza. She said that an Egyptian company, Hala Consulting and Tourism, was offering people a way out of the Palestinian enclave for $7,000 (US dollars) per person.

Last year, an investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found brokers were charging Palestinians up to $10,000 to secure a border crossing, with Hala Consulting and Tourism – owned by prominent businessman Ibrahim El-Argani, who has links to Egypt’s regime – one of the most prominent.

The only other option for Ali’s family is to secure a trip out of Gaza for her husband to receive medical treatment – Ali said he is on a waiting list for treatment in either Egypt or the United Arab Emirates – and pay money for her and her children to be allowed to accompany him.

“I know people who got out using both of these methods... but the amount they are asking for is large and I am not very optimistic that we will be able to get out,” she said. “It is an unimaginable amount for us.”

A Colorado woman has opened a fundraising page for Ali and her family, hoping to raise $10,000 to help them escape Gaza.

Does Ali have a message for people in Malta?

“Continue getting the news and following the war in Gaza, but don’t get used to it; don’t get desensitised to it,” she said.

“Continue to talk about Gaza, and even though it might seem futile, continue demonstrating on the streets because the situation is dire,” said Ali.

“We have gone from wishing for the war to finish, to hoping we at least all die together as a family.”

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza – launched following Hamas attacks that killed around 1,200 people – has killed around 58,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to recent figures provided by Gazan health authorities.