Date of Testimony: 17 September 2025

Suzan Shafiq Hassan Quffa, 43 years old, married, mother of four, resident of central Gaza.

I am married to Nahid Mahmoud Hussein Quffa, 48 years old. We live in an apartment in Al-Masdar, and we have four children, including one daughter.

At around 6:30 a.m. on 7 October 2023, I woke up overwhelmed by fear because of the intensity of the sounds that shook us awake. At first, I thought it was a nightmare, but the sounds grew louder, coming from all directions. I asked my husband about it, and he said he thought it might be a drill or something similar, since we live near the eastern border. But this time, the sound was much stronger and different. We grabbed our phones and soon realized the truth — these were rockets being fired towards the occupied territories.

I immediately packed a few clothes and prepared my children to leave for my family’s home in Al-Maghazi camp, because we live in a border area that is among the most heavily targeted. We left our home in the early hours, thinking it would only last for two days, as in previous escalations. But what happened was far beyond anything we imagined. After leaving our home, the situation worsened day by day, and the suffering of displacement began, forcing us to move from place to place due to Israeli evacuation orders for many areas of Gaza.

We left Al-Maghazi after two months of war and went to Rafah, staying at a relative’s home in Tel Al-Sultan for about five months. But then Israeli threats reached Rafah as well, leaving us no option but to return to our home — despite its proximity to the border, the danger, and the extensive damage it had sustained. Still, the army forced us to evacuate again, as the area was threatened once more. This time, we fled to Al-Nuseirat camp, where we were forced to move repeatedly because it was extremely dangerous, under constant bombardment and military operations. Eventually, we returned to Al-Maghazi, and later, to our damaged home in Al-Masdar.

On 17 June 2025, at around 3:30 p.m., I went to my bedroom to rest after a long, exhausting day of preparing food and baking bread for my children over an open fire. The moment I entered the room, flames engulfed my body. Our home had been directly targeted, and a missile hit the bedroom, setting fire to the mattress I was lying on and burning my body completely.

I ran out screaming as the fire consumed me. My husband and neighbors tried desperately to extinguish the flames and pull me out of the house. After several attempts, they managed to get me outside. But that was only the beginning of the ordeal. They called an ambulance, but it could not arrive immediately due to the heavy bombardment in the area. A neighbor’s car was used to try to evacuate me, but the car broke down, leaving us stranded in the street while the fire ate away at my body. I felt as though my flesh was melting before my eyes.

After more than half an hour, an ambulance finally arrived and transferred me to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. By then, the burns had spread severely across my body. The doctors rushed me into surgery for debridement, and it was determined that I had suffered second-degree burns, complicated by severe infections caused by rubble and debris falling onto my wounds.

Since that day, I have remained in hospital, undergoing repeated debridement surgeries under full anesthesia, as the burns have left my body disfigured. I still cannot comprehend what happened to me — I was safe in my home, only to emerge with a burned and scarred body. I now require extensive reconstructive treatments and cosmetic surgeries to reduce the impact of these injuries.