Abu Mohammed and his family fled their home in Gaza, only to lose everything in a strike on their temporary shelter. Abu Mohammed remains focused on his family’s survival.
Despite illness and grief, Abu Mohammed and his wife, find themselves struggling to care for their seven daughters and a granddaughter. They fled their home in Shuja’iyya under fire, moving from one neighbourhood to the other—Tel al-Hawa, al-Mughraqa, Khan Yunis, and al-Nuseirat—until they finally found temporary shelter in a tent at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
But even the hospital grounds weren’t safe. Just after midnight on October 14, an Israeli missile strike shattered the camp, setting tents ablaze. The fire quickly engulfed everything, leaving many dead or injured. “We barely escaped with our lives,” says Abu Mohammed. “All I could think was getting my wife and daughters to safety, out of those flames.”
Since that night, the family has been left with nothing. With no home of their own, Abu Mohammed and Um Mohammed sent their daughters and granddaughter to stay with relatives, hoping to relieve some of the burden.
“We once had a big, happy home, 225 square meters,” Abu Mohammed recalls. “But now, all that’s left are memories, and I don’t know if we’ll ever see it again.” Their home in Gaza was destroyed on the fourth day of the ongoing war, but both he and his wife still dream of returning to the place where they shared so many precious moments.
Though Abu Mohammed faces serious health issues from old injuries, he rarely speaks of his own suffering. His focus remains on his family’s survival, and on his son, killed during the recent bombings. “This war has taken everything from us—our home, our son,” he says, wiping away tears. “He was only 24, and he took care of us all.”
As they await an end to the conflict, Abu Mohammed hopes to recover their son’s body, still trapped under rubble since April. Umm Mohammed, who has made multiple attempts to return to their neighbourhood, spends time near the hospital morgue, comforting other grieving families. “At least you got to say goodbye to your loved ones,” she tells them. “I haven’t even had that.”
Like so many other displaced families in Gaza, Abu Mohammed’s family now relies on humanitarian aid to get by. Despite his pain, Abu Mohammed has only one request: “I just want my family to feel safe again.”
This story was made possible thanks to the support of HelpAge network member Juzoor for Health and Social Development; a Palestinian non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting health as a basic human right. Together with HelpAge, they are working to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to older people in Gaza.
Learn more about our humanitarian efforts in the Middle East