Before our apartment was bombed, I lived on the first floor of the building with my husband, Muhammad Aman, and four of our children: Yusef, 15, Hadil 18, Warda, 22, and Ibrahim, 30. My husband worked as a driver. He would drive people to UNRWA to get food supplies and then back home.

When the war began, we started hearing airstrikes all the time. My children hardly slept at night. We followed the events constantly. My husband and I fell asleep late each night, exhausted, and woke up before dawn. We were constantly stressed by what was going on and by sound of the lengthy bombings, which was horrifying. We were constantly afraid. The situation was really dire. A lot of people were killed. Many were wounded, and homes and buildings were destroyed.

Before the strikes started, my daughter Samar got into a fight with her husband and came to live with us. My daughter Walaa came to us with her husband after the strikes started. They left their home in the a-Salatin neighborhood of Beit Lahiya because it was constantly being bombarded. Many residents there left their homes.

On 13 May 2021, at around 11:00 P.M., I woke up suddenly in complete darkness. There was debris, dust and smoke all around me. I couldn’t see anything. I had terrible pain all over my body, and it felt like things were piercing it. I also felt burns on my body and face. The pain was so strong, I screamed. Suddenly, one of my daughters came, I don’t know which one, and pulled me out. Just then, I heard another missile and lost sight of her. The place filled with smoke and dust.

Then the paramedics came. I asked them to look for my daughters. They told me they’d take care of me first and then look for them. I lost consciousness and woke up the next morning at the ICU in a-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza City. I asked my relatives about my children, and they said they were alright. A few days later, the doctors moved me to the orthopedic department, where I was told my husband Muhammad had been killed. I went into shock and cried.

A few minutes later, I was told that three of my daughters had also been killed – Hadil, Warda and Walaa. I went into shock. They were my hope, my whole life, especially Hadil, who was the most spoiled and was very attached to me. It was a shock for me. I never thought anything like that would happen to me. I don’t know how to go on living.

After 14 days at a-Shifaa Hospital, I was transferred to the burn unit at al-’Awda Hospital because I had burns on my face and hands and shrapnel all over my body. I have burns on my head and a fractured left leg. They put a metal plate in. I’m still suffering. I’m in a great deal of pain, and I’m receiving treatment that’s expected to take months.