Amal Recalls a Dreadful Night in Gaza

“I can still hear the screams and cries in my head. I don’t like to think about that day.”

Amal Al Shrobasi, a 53-year-old mother from Gaza, was forced to leave her home in Al Jalaa in Gaza City after her neighborhood received an evacuation order. She sought refuge in Al Shifa hospital with her 14 children, only to face further despair two days later when the hospital was bombed. Stranded without a tent or shelter, Amal and her children endured their initial days of displacement amidst harrowing conditions.

“We all thought that staying near a hospital would keep us safe, but we were wrong,” Amal said. Haunted by what she saw after the Al Shifa hospital bombing and the fear for the well-being of her children, Amal says, “That was the scariest and worst day of my life.”

Amal explained that her life in Gaza pre-war was tough, but thinking about those days now seems like a faraway dream. “You must always be grateful for what you have,” she described, “even if it’s minimal and you live day by day. I now understand how much God has given me. With a large family, I pray for God’s protection, but it’s difficult to stay positive, especially when there is no hope and we have nowhere to run.”

Now, the mother of 14 children resides in a cramped makeshift tent in the south. The makeshift shelter provides little protection against the rain, cold and heat. In addition to the struggles of displacement and the heartbreak of losing everything, Amal also grapples with the harsh reality that her children lack the basic necessities of life. Food, clean water, daily essentials, and even the little snacks her children crave remain elusive.

“My children keep asking me for some snacks like biscuits, and I can’t get them. We have no money. Even if we did, there is nothing to buy in the market.” 

Amal’s story is just like many others in Gaza who face displacement and lack the basic necessities to survive. To help meet some of their most basic needs, Anera recently opened a community kitchen in Amal’s area. She described how, “It brought us tremendous relief knowing there’s a place for us to get food. It brought us some hope that we might be okay.”

With the generous support of UBS, Anera was able to provide Amal and others in similar situations with hot meals to meet their nutritional needs during a time when they had lost everything. Through UBS, Anera provided 291,989 hot meals and 26,611 fresh produce baskets to displaced people in the north and south of Gaza.

With the help of our partners and supporters, we have provided over 30 million meals to date. Please support our ongoing efforts and help bring security and stability to people in Gaza.