Mahmoud - Life in Gaza. Now.

July 19, 2025

At the beginning of the war in 2023, we stayed in our home from October 7 - December 4 until the Israeli army launched its first ground incursion into our neighborhood: Sheikh Nasser, in Khan Younis. We were forced to flee to Rafah, where we rented a barely 80 square meters apartment for more than 12 families. Conditions were catastrophic.

We were displaced again and set up tents in the Tel Al-Sultan area where we lived from December 2023 until May 2024. The army withdrew from Khan Younis, leaving nothing but destruction and ashes. Then evacuation orders began to be issued for Rafah.

We moved into my uncle’s house while we worked on repairing our home, which had been bombed, burned, and devastated. The walls collapsed, the sewage system was destroyed, and the furniture reduced to ashes, completely ruined. We repaired what we could, the damaged walls, bathrooms—and built a small oven so we could bake.

We returned to our home, with it’s dark scars of fire and destruction, from late May 2024 until July 22, 2024 when suddenly the army invaded again, under intense gunfire, and massacred many of my relatives. My cousin Sharif was killed. He was his parents’ only child and meant more to me than a brother. I lost him that day.

We were forced to flee under heavy fire. I survived by a miracle when multiple bullets exploded centimeters away from me. I was injured by shrapnel in my arm.

We fled to Deir al-Balah, leaving the bodies of my two cousins, young women, trapped under the rubble. The ongoing bombardment and ground invasion in the area stopped us from retrieving them.

We lived in a displacement camp in Deir al-Balah. Eight days later, the army withdrew from our neighborhood, and two days after that, we returned—only to be forced to flee again shortly after due to a new evacuation map.

This cycle continued: we returned, then two weeks later, new evacuation orders were issued, and we were forced to leave for the same displacement camp in Deir al-Balah where we remained until early January 2025.

During the repeated incursions, our home was targeted again by several shells. My brother and I returned before the rest of the family, repairing what we could. We managed to remove the massive mound of rubble that had been bulldozed in front of our entrance, and once the house was barely livable again, we brought the family back.

Then came the ceasefire agreement. We stayed in the house during that short period of relative calm—until new evacuation orders were issued about two months ago. Since then, we have been living in tents in Khan Younis, in conditions that are absolutely unbearable.

~ Mahmoud