Sanaa El-Nahhal, who is Palestinian-Maltese, says she receives distressing news from family members and friends in Gaza “almost every 10 minutes”.
“They say that person or the other has died, or that building or the other was destroyed,” she tells Times of Malta.
“Every time I hear the phone ring, I’m terrified. I can’t sleep. I’m always on Facebook and watching the news for updates,” she said.
El-Nahhal has siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins in war-torn Gaza.
The latest war between Israel and Hamas – the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza – erupted after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in raids in Israel last Saturday. Many of the dead were at a music festival close to Gaza. Hamas also took about 150 Israeli hostages to Gaza.
In retaliation, Israel responded with massive military airstrikes and artillery attacks, killing over 1,500 Palestinians so far, including some of El-Nahhal’s relatives.
She said the deaths of two family members were especially hard for her.
“I went to Gaza two years ago for his wedding and now I heard he was dead,” she said of one relative.
I went to Gaza two years ago for his wedding and now I heard he was dead,” she said of one relative- Sanaa El-Nahhal, president of the Arabic Culture Information Society
The other, her cousin’s son, was about to get married. “My cousin asked me if I would go (to Gaza) for her son’s wedding and I said: ‘If God wills it (yes)’.”
“He died as well.”
El-Nahhal is the president of the Arabic Culture Information Society (ACIS), an NGO which aims “to educate the public about Arabic culture and to promote respect and acceptance of others”.
The organisation will be holding a demonstration today “to protest the indiscriminate bombardment and unlawful siege of civilians in the Gaza Strip”.
“Many lives will be lost if the international community remains silent, especially after Israel blocked the supply of water, electricity, fuel, food and medicines to Gaza,” a statement by ACIS said.
The protest will be held at Msida square, in front of the parish church, at 2 pm.
“We want to show the world and Malta we (Palestinians) should not be killed indiscriminately and that water, electricity and food should not be stopped,” El-Nahhal said.
Killing and deaths should stop, she said, adding Palestinians want peace but it should be fair to everyone.
“Most of the people dying are women and children... What do they have to do with it,” she asked.
Palestinians with their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13, 2023. Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFPThe Gaza Strip is a 41km long by 10km wide territory between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2007, it has been ruled by Hamas – considered a terrorist organisation by the EU, the UK and the US.
Gaza is home to over two million people, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Almost half of the people in Gaza are children.
Asked about Hamas’s attacks inside Israel last Saturday, El-Nahhal said that what the militant group did “was not right” but their actions could not be seen in a vacuum.
“I can’t say they are right because I don’t agree that any innocent person should be killed,” she said.
She said Israelis have done the same in the recent past, “coming in and killing people”.
“Some Palestinians think that what they (Hamas) did now was wrong, but others agree with them.
“Those who agree say ‘what was taken from you by force you can only take back by force’,” she said.
El-Nahhal said she believes in peace and thinks all killing is wrong “but I love my country as well”, she said.
Israel behaves worse than Hamas, she said, adding that there has been little international condemnation of Israel for the way it treats the Palestinians.