T.A. (34), married and a mother of 3 children, a resident of Khan Yunis.
Date: 30 November 2024
I am married and a mother of three children: Hassan (15); Yehya (12); and Sham (5). I lived in my husband’s family house in the Al-Manara neighborhood in Khan Younis. The 2-story house had two apartments on each floor, but it has become uninhabitable after being almost entirely destroyed by Israeli artillery shells. My husband worked in Israel with a daily permit before the war. At the beginning of 2024, I have become also pregnant.
When the war began on the morning of 07 October 2023, my children were getting ready for school, and my husband was at his job in Israel. I prevented my children from going to school out of fear of any further escalation, and soon the bombardment pounded the whole Gaza Strip, targeting homes and places of worship. We stayed home, watching the terrifying scenes of bombardment and destruction on television. I tried to contact my husband to check on him, but he was no better having to leave his job in Israel and move to Qalqilya to see what would happen.
On 13 November 2023, I learned that the Israeli Occupying Forces had arrested my husband along with a group of workers in Qalqilya. He was taken to the “Antot” prison but was released and returned to us safely after five days, specifically on 18 November via the Kerem Shalom crossing. With the increasing bombardment, fire belts, and the threats of an incursion into Khan Younis, we decided to leave our home because it was located in the eastern areas. Following the announcement of a military operation in Khan Younis, we headed on 03 December 2023, to Rafah in the Khirbat Al-Adas area, where we sought refuge in my husband’s relatives’ house. We stayed there until 14 February 2024, when the area was bombed, targeting two neighboring houses and resulting in the killing of ten people. Due to the destruction, we moved to the Tel Al-Sultan area west of Rafah and set up our tents near the sea. Life there was incredibly difficult, with overcrowding of around 20 people in a small space, lack of drinking water and food, and skyrocketing prices.
As the Israeli bombardment on Rafah intensified and evacuation orders were issued, we moved to Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis on 02 May 2024, staying in tents with other families. We endured extremely harsh conditions, especially with water and food shortages. After the Israeli forces withdrew from the eastern areas of Khan Younis, my husband felt somewhat safe. With their withdrawal from the Al-Manara neighborhood where we lived, we decided with his family to return to our home in Al-Manara, believing it would be better than enduring the harsh sun, sea spray, and humidity in the tents.
However, we could not stay for long. On 24 October 2024, at 19:30, the Israeli forces launched a sudden attack on the area. It was unimaginable and indescribable; we began hearing the sounds of tank treads and quadcopter drones completely surrounding Al-Manara neighborhood, which was filled with families in their homes. The Israeli forces directly began bombing homes with artillery shells and warplanes. The house next to ours, belonging to the Al-Farra family, was bombed, killing 13 people, most of them children. The second floor of our house was also shelled, while we—around 20 people—were on the ground floor, including my children, my husband, my siblings, and my husband’s family.
We were trapped in the house, and under the relentless artillery shelling, we all hid in the bathroom until 22:00. Suddenly, IOF sent in a dog equipped with a camera to search the house. He stood before us, approached, and bit my younger sister (17), who is married and pregnant.
As this happened, the dog attacked me as well, biting my thigh, causing severe wounds and heavy bleeding. I was nine months pregnant at the time. My husband desperately kicked the dog, and my in-laws struck it with sticks, but it would not release me amidst the terrified screams of my children, who were paralyzed in fear. The dog then dragged me out of the bathroom about 15 meters, sinking its teeth deeper into my leg. I felt as if the flesh of my leg had been completely torn away. Blood was gushing everywhere, painting the house floor in a horrifying scene. The dog held its grip on my leg for nearly ten minutes, and no one could pry its jaws apart.
We then heard the footsteps of soldiers climbing the stairs. A large number of them entered the house, and three soldiers attempted to release the dog’s grip on my leg but failed. Finally, a fourth soldier, the commander, came and forcefully removed the dog’s jaws. When I looked at my leg, the wound was critical. Doctors later told me it was 8 cm deep and 12 cm long. The sight of my leg was horrifying; I felt it would be amputated due to the severity of the injury. It appears the dog had chewed the flesh off my thigh, spreading my blood on the floor in a terrifying scene. I screamed in agony, fearing not just for my life but for the life of my unborn child due to the massive blood loss.
Afterward, the soldiers took over the house, turning it into a military post. They climbed to the roof in large numbers and began firing randomly in all directions, while the artillery shelling was non-stop for about seven hours. The area was completely besieged, and we had no idea what happened to our neighboring families—whether they were alive or dead. During this time, the officer in charge of the operation approached me and asked who had caused my injuries. I told him the dog had attacked me, but he denied it, saying, “We didn’t do this.” He then grabbed me by my arm, placed me on the couch, and asked if I was pregnant. When I said yes, he ordered me to expose my belly so he could see, and I had no choice but to comply.
They then began calling out for the men, isolating them in one room while they placed the women and children, including my children, in another room. My children were in a state of complete shock, crying and screaming uncontrollably. I continued screaming in pain and bleeding profusely, gradually losing consciousness. The officer came back to me and threatened that if I told anyone what had happened and claimed that the soldiers had set the dog on me, they would come back to torture me and kill my children and my entire family. He warned me that they could find me wherever I was. At that moment, I genuinely believed they would kill me.
At 02:30, after their threats, the soldiers withdrew from the house. They arrested my husband along with a young man from Al-Farra family and left under continuous artillery shelling. My children started crying and screaming, terrified for their father, overwhelmed with fear. I remained in the dark about my husband’s whereabouts until 07:00, when we began hearing the sounds of ambulances. We then learned that the Israeli forces had withdrawn from the neighborhood. My family and siblings went out to call for an ambulance to take me to Nasser Hospital. As I left the house, I was shocked to see the large number of dead bodies—children, women, and elderly people—lying on the ground. Neighbors began retrieving the bodies of their loved ones, with around 35 dead bodies from the Abu Abideen, Oweida, and Al-Farra families.
At the hospital, the doctors were horrified by the severity and critical condition of my injury, especially since I was experiencing immense pain due to my pregnancy. After doctor’s examination, they informed me that I was suffering from high blood pressure and preeclampsia as a result of the heavy bleeding and the dog bite on my thigh. The doctors said the wound was extremely deep and required urgent surgery, or I would lose my leg. Initially, they were unable to properly treat the wound due to the lack of resources caused by the Israeli siege on Gaza, which left the hospital without essential medical supplies such as disinfectants, gauze, and antiseptics. I was transferred to Mubarak Hospital on 28 October 2024, where the doctors decided to perform an emergency c-section due to the preeclampsia I had.
At 09:00, I entered the operating room but had to wait until 18:30 for a doctor, as the place was not clean, and there was no suitable bed for childbirth. The c-section was eventually performed, but unfortunately, I lost the baby due to poisoning and severe blood loss. Three hours after c-section, the doctors informed me that I needed urgent surgery for the wound on my leg, which required immediate intervention. Due to the lack of resources at the hospital, the surgery was conducted in the same operating room used for the delivery, known as the “maternity ward”. The surgery was extremely challenging because of the limited equipment and resources.
An hour after the surgery, I was moved to ICU at Nasser Hospital, where I stayed for a week until my condition improved. On 04 November 2024, I was surprised to learn that the Israeli forces had released my husband after ten days of detention. We were informed that he had been taken to the Philadelphi corridor in Rafah for interrogation before being released. I reunited with my husband at my family’s home in Khan Younis, where we now live.
However, despite feeling physically safe, I continue to suffer from severe psychological distress. I experience episodes of hysteria due to the threats I received from the officer and the physical pain I endured. I cannot forget the terror I faced or what my children went through, particularly my daughter Sham, who still suffers from extreme fear and bed-wetting due to the trauma she experienced.
Physically, I am still unable to walk or move properly and require my wound dressings to be changed twice daily to prevent infection. Unfortunately, I cannot access the necessary medications, antiseptics, and dressings in Gaza’s current dire circumstances, as I need a nurse daily to help dress my wound properly.
