This is a story of one family in Gaza. Devastating, but there are thousands like this in Gaza and many thousands more family stories that will never be told. These are human beings, no different than any others who just want to live in peace and see their children thrive – just like us. The destruction, the deaths, the maimed, the children traumatised for life, all this fuelled by US tax dollars reaping death on one hand and making the arms manufacturers and their government stooges wealthy beyond imagination on the other. – The Editors
Amgad Al-Mahalwi (35) and his wife Qamar (25) and their two sons, Majd (4) and Ibrahim (2) are Palestinians who lived with their extended family of about 50 in a compound of houses near Gaza City before the war. I have known Amgad for over a decade, becoming acquainted when I was the Director of the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Office, and Amgad was on the staff of the Al-Najd Development Forum, one of the Palestinian development organizations that the Mennonites supported in Gaza.
In earlier articles, I have written about how the family decided not to move south as ordered by the Israelis when the war began as several of Amgad’s extended family had been killed trying to travel south as ordered. Amgad had been forced to move to five or six different homes and schools, each time being forced to leave due to Israeli shelling or bombing in the area. They ended up in a classroom on the third floor of the Umar bin Aas School near Gaza City, which was attacked, and the classroom where Maged’s extended family was staying was hit by a tank shell, killing Amgad’s father, his sister and an aunt were killed along with 27 other people in the school that day. Amgad’s wife and two children where wounded, so in the midst of the shelling, Amgad took his wife and children to find medical help. For two months, I heard nothing from Amgad and worried that he and his family had been killed or captured by the Israeli Defense Force. Then miraculously, on January 26 I got an email from Amgad that he and his family had arrived in Rafah in the South. He and his family had walked almost the length of Gaza, staying in schools, hospitals or mosques along the way.
Amgad bought wood and nylon and built a tent for his family in eastern Rafah and was able to receive food and water assistance from the UN and international NGOs working in Rafah. A few weeks later, on Feb 12th the Israeli Defense Force rescued four Israeli hostages in Rafah while bombing and shelling much of the rest of Rafah, killing 67 Palestinians (including in a man in a nearby tent), to distract attention from the hostage rescue effort. Amgad’s family lived peaceably in Rafah for the next three months, until May 6th when Israelis ordered everyone to leave from eastern Rafah, and a few days later, after several dozen Palestinian civilians were killed in eastern Rafah, Amgad and his family fled to Khan Younis, a city just 5 miles north of Rafah. People may remember that when Netanyahu announced that the IDF would be attacking Rafah, a city that had 1.4 million inhabitants, Biden and the UN both warned it would be a war crime to attach the densely populated city, but President Biden said it might be permissible to attack Rafah if accommodation were made for the hundreds of thousands of people who would be displaced. The IDF did attack, and no accommodations were made for the displaced refugees.
I got these messages from Amgad a few days after his move to Khan Younis.
“I tell you, no water here.There are no international NGOs or UNRWA to help with food and water. We need to buy all of our food from the market and a little potable water to drink from the street.”
I asked Amgad to give me more details last week.
“The conditions here are difficult and the situations are more difficult. The first is because of the extreme heat while we are in the tent. It becomes hot and we also need water, but it is difficult to obtain it. We walk long distances to get it and we buy it even though it is not healthy. The important thing is that it is a little drinkable. It also means preparing food. There is no gas. We go to buy firewood and light a fire and prepare everything on the fire. This costs money and the fire with the strong sun makes everything hotter. It is also difficult to get vegetables and meat because they are very expensive. I try to manage my affairs and buy only the most important food and clothing for the children. You also know that when there is bombing, the children pee in their beds out of fear. We left Gaza City after the bombing and the clothes we were wearing were covered in blood when the classroom where we were staying got hit. So we don’t have many clothes, and the prices of clothes are very expensive. Almost my whole family that is still alive is with me in our tent in Khan Younis. I have my mother and stepmother, a younger brother and a sister and a second brother, who lost his eye in the shelling that also killed his wife, so I am also caring for his children.”
I asked Amgad how many of his relatives are actually living with him now in Khan Younis. He responded:
“We all 16, including 6 children under 6 years of age. I love my family and need to try to keep them safe. Every day has its meaning. I thank God, since the family is fine and safe and I am working hard to care for them. I am fine”
Here are the texts I received from my friend, Maged Al-Mahalwi, today, July 3, 2024.
“This war has gone on now for almost 9 months. I am now really tried. My health is weak. If me and family die now, it’s ok.”
What happened, I asked,
“I have five-year-old nephew, Anass, and his two-and-a-half-year-old sister, Elaine, who live with us. His father, my oldest brother, remained in the North to burry my father, my sister and my aunt who were killed when the school we were all staying in near Gaza City was shelled. Nuseirat, his mother came with us bringing the two children when we fled. We all eventually made our way to Rafah, but the pain of the separation from her husband, the stress of the travel, the heat and constant shelling were too much. Nuseirat died from a stroke about six weeks ago in Rafah. Today, Anass ran away from home. We were all frantic searching for him. Eventually we found him a kilometer and a half away at his mother’s grave. He was digging in his mother’s grave, trying to take her out because he wanted her. I went crazy. When I called his father in Gaza City we cried and cried.
I am so tired. What should I do?”
Doug Hostetter was a Mennonite Central Committee worker in Tam Ky, Vietnam from 1966-1969. A conscientious objector to war, Hostetter did his alternative service in Vietnam.
