
What it's like to raise children alone in Gaza | BBC News
BBC News- 111 views
- 31 Dec 2024
Gaza resident Amal Alabadla gave birth to her son Mohamed on October 7 2023 - her eldest son Noah was only 18 months at the ...
Gaza resident, Amal Al-Admaadla, gave birth to her son, Mohamed, on October seventh, 2023. Her eldest son, Noah, was only 18 months at the time. Since then, Amal has faced a daily struggle to care for her children amid bombardments, food shortages, and frequent displacements. Israel said it does not target civilians in Gaza and is dismantling terrorist networks. Meanwhile, Amal's husband works in the West Bank and hasn't been able to be with his family since before the war, so has never met his baby son. Amal shared her story with the BBC.
. I'm Amal Al-Abaidla, 37 years old. I'm an I could take them, a wife, and I'm a mother for two kids, for two boys. Noah is two years and a half now. Muhammad just turned one. He was born on October seventh, the first day of I was in a war. 7 October, 6:00 AM, I was sleeping, me, me and Noah in our bed. I had a dream. I dreamed of a war. I was hearing the sounds of pumping in my dream. Then this is happening for real. Then my husband called me and he said, Amal, we don't what is happening. Get a car and go to the hospital now. When I got to the hospital, they decided an emergency C-section for me. I remember that I was very scared. I wanted to call my husband. I thought, maybe I'm going to die. Then the voice of Muhammad crying. I couldn't believe I stopped crying. The second day Noah met Muhammad, he was very jealous, but yet he wanted to protect him from the first time he saw him. They started to tell people to leave. I remember that day, an air strike targeted our neighbor's house, and then we had to run to the street holding Muhammad and Noah.
I went to Al-Mawasi. I stayed there in a tent. I stayed there for a It was very hard to stay there because it's a fire area from hospitals. I went home. There were a ceasefire by then. The day the ceasefire ended, the bombing started exactly in my neighborhood. I was holding noah. I was holding Muhammad, and they started to bomb around our building. Then I hear the sound of the bombings coming near and near and near. I hold my voice tight. It was like my heart was exploding. I just placed to Rafa, A week before Raafah operation, they forced us to leave to Khan Younes. The most terrifying scene for Noah that day, the destructions all the way from Raafah to Khanunis. He didn't understand what it is and what happened to the buildings. I have to stay strong for my kid. Actually, I'm inside full of pain all the time, but I have to hide this from them. It's like living between two fires, the fear of their safety and the struggle to meet their basic needs. At the same time, their smiles, their presence, actually give me strength to keep going, to find for them, for a better future for them.
Amal Al-Abbadla talking to us about her family's struggle to survive in Gaza.