{"id":83921,"date":"2023-11-28T02:52:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T02:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.estaql.com\/grief-to-courage-a-palestinian-stranded-in-egypt-as-israel-bombs-gaza-israel-palestine-conflict\/"},"modified":"2023-11-28T02:52:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T02:52:24","slug":"grief-to-courage-a-palestinian-stranded-in-egypt-as-israel-bombs-gaza-israel-palestine-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/grief-to-courage-a-palestinian-stranded-in-egypt-as-israel-bombs-gaza-israel-palestine-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2>Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict<\/h2>\n<p>Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict<\/p>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p><em>\u201cHello, I\u2019m Mohammed\u2026 of the family Kafarna. I am 24 years old and a law graduate from Al-Azhar University in Gaza. I live in the city of Beit Hanoon, adjacent to the apartheid wall that the Israeli occupation built. I lost 15 people from my family. I lost two friends, we grew up with each other too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For most young people, being 24 means entering the workforce, enrolling in grad school or moving cities.<\/p>\n<p>But for Mohammed Kafarna, a Palestinian lawyer marooned in Egypt, 24 means watching helplessly as his family and friends in Gaza are slaughtered.<\/p>\n<p>This is his story as told to Al Jazeera through conversations, messages and voice notes.<\/p>\n<h3>October 3 \u2013 Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>At the beginning of October, Mohammed went to Egypt for eye surgery he could not get in Gaza. He was not travelling for pleasure, but wanted to make the most of his journey, writing on social media that he didn\u2019t want to go home before seeing the \u201cbeautiful places in Egypt\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mohammed wears glasses so he can see. In photos with his university friend Amjad al-Athamneh \u2013 who has since been killed in a bombing \u2013 his laugh lines reach all the way to their rounded frames.<\/p>\n<p>Mohammed was among hundreds of Palestinians who were in Egypt for medical treatment on October 7. So far, not one has made it back into Gaza.<\/p>\n<h3>October 4 \u2013 Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>On October 4, Mohammed joked about taking photos of his travel buddies, saying his friends never took his picture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe worst thing in life,\u201d he said playfully. Like many young people, he once delighted in sharing lighthearted pictures of himself on social media.<\/p>\n<p>He could never have predicted the turn his life would take.<\/p>\n<h3>October 9 \u2013 Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza and Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>On October 9, Mohammed\u2019s cousin Suhail was transferring money for Mohammed\u2019s surgery when an Israeli air attack targeted the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Suhail was killed at the money exchange.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe shared everything since childhood. I couldn\u2019t bear the news. I went into shock for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mohammed spiralled into a bottomless pit after Suhail\u2019s death, whom he described as a brother. He could not pull himself out of bed.<\/p>\n<p>Cut off from his family in Gaza, Mohammed had not had the surgery yet, and his ability to see took a backseat as he refused to have anyone else meet the same fate as Suhail to transfer money.<\/p>\n<h3>October 12 \u2013 Beit Hanoun, Gaza and Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>On October 12, the house belonging to Maryam, Mohammed\u2019s sister, was bombed in Beit Hanoon. Her husband Ali and his entire extended family were killed.<\/p>\n<p>Maryam, who was flung 50 metres (164 feet) by the force of the explosion, and her two daughters survived.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center;display:block\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Israel-Gaza: &#039;We all have 13,000 deaths on our conscience&#039; | UpFront\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i1-X01-Vf5Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>One of Mohammed\u2019s friends got a message to him from Gaza, breaking the news of his brother-in-law\u2019s death. He reassured Mohammed that his sister and nieces were alive \u2013 for now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter their home was bombed, they were displaced to the south of the Gaza Strip and were targeted again,\u201d said Mohammed, his voice hollow.<\/p>\n<p>Maryam was able to receive several vital surgeries but some of the care she needs will have to wait \u201cdue to the lack of medicines and treatment in Gaza\u201d. Her daughter Nihad suffered serious injuries and burns to her face while her daughter Sham\u2019s left hand was fractured.<\/p>\n<p>Hospitals in Gaza are so damaged and out of supplies that they cannot offer care. Several have shut down.<\/p>\n<p>Stranded in Egypt, Mohammed was tormented by his sister and nieces\u2019 suffering. Not only was he watching his family\u2019s pain but he had to confront the possibility that he might become the only one left to remember them.<\/p>\n<p>He wanted the rest of the world to know what hospitals have had to do in Gaza, that some operations were done without anaesthesia because there just isn\u2019t any. So he went online to share atrocities being committed in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not want to die and be remembered as if we were just numbers. Each of us has a dream and a future that he was drawing in his imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His cousin Suhail\u2019s dream was to raise enough money to build his own house.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2462178\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2462178\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2462178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestinians look at the destruction after Israeli raids on Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, November 4, 2023 [Fatima Shbair\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>October 23 \u2013 Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cToday I reached out to my mother. I wasn\u2019t able to contact her for five days\u2026 she told me they drank the contaminated water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His mother cried from hunger on the phone call, and Mohammed felt utterly helpless. How could he keep his family from starving while stuck in Cairo? He appealed on social media for someone in Deir el-Balah to help his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just need someone to help me,\u201d Mohammed pleaded. \u201c[My family] need gas to be able to make bread\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israel\u2019s siege on Gaza forced Palestinians there to ration food and drink noxious water, conditions that have worsened life in what rights groups have for years called an \u201copen-air prison\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Hopelessness threatened to overwhelm Mohammed. The world had turned its back on thousands of innocents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael is committing genocide and ethnic cleansing,\u201d Mohammed said. \u201cWe must\u2026 stop this.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>October 25 \u2013 Southern Gaza Strip and Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>On October 25, Ahmed Musa Shabat, another university friend of Mohammed\u2019s, went to a bakery in southern Gaza hoping to buy bread for his family. They had just fled south from Beit Hanoon.<\/p>\n<p>Victory Bakery fed the whole region, according to Mohammed, and he believes it was targeted, along with the people buying bread. Ahmed and his cousin were killed.<\/p>\n<p>There were attacks even on the southern areas to where the Israeli army <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IDF\/status\/1712707301369434398\">told<\/a> civilians to flee. Those who headed south are still being slaughtered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything was one shock after another for me,\u201d Mohammed disclosed with some difficulty. The number of deaths he was bombarded with over the past weeks had taken a toll on his mental state.<\/p>\n<p>The same day Ahmed was killed, Mohammed heard that his cousin Muhammad and his young son Bassem had been killed in a bombing. Bassem was beheaded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis head is still under the rubble,\u201d said Mohammed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2508348\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2508348\" style=\"width:764px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2508348\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Muhammad and his son Bassem [Courtesy of Mohammed Kafarna]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>October 29 \u2013 Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>Mohammed\u2019s tone had grown weary.<\/p>\n<p>Hours earlier, he heard news that his friend Ibrahim\u2019s entire family had been killed. Ibrahim survived but is still in critical condition in an intensive care unit after a near-fatal head injury.<\/p>\n<h3>October 30 \u2013 Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>Mohammed still hadn\u2019t gotten the eye surgery but his thoughts were now entirely on his friend Ibrahim, who he still has hope for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPray for Ibrahim,\u201d Mohammed implored. \u201cAnd let the world know that the massacres have not stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He wants to use his unforeseen position as a Palestinian in Egypt to raise awareness about the desperate situation in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>He appealed to the world to expose the human rights violations in Gaza, in Palestine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen will you take action to stop the massacres?\u201d Mohammed challenged the international community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour silence kills us more than their missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>November 26 \u2013 Southern Gaza Strip and Cairo, Egypt<\/h3>\n<p>Mohammed made contact with his mother for the first time in 10 days.<\/p>\n<p>When his family fled their home in early October, they did not know to bring clothes for the arduous month that lay ahead. His young nieces, he said, were shivering in the rain in the displacement camps.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2508346\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2508346\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2508346\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ibrahim\u2019s deceased family [Courtesy of Mohammed Kafarna]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since he heard about the ceasefire, Mohammed has longed to see his mother and sister, but his mother warned him not to try to cross the border.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019d just be a burden on us here,\u201d she told Mohammed. \u201cThere is no good water, no electricity, and no food.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told me to stay out and try to find work so that I can help them after the end of this aggression because we\u2019ve seen life after the war before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mohammed recounted his family being without electricity for more than a year, carrying water by hand for more than 10km (6.2 miles) or sleeping in frigid homes without doors and windows.<\/p>\n<p>In Cairo, Egyptian landlords are hostile towards him and many displaced Palestinians who struggle to pay rent, according to Mohammed. He managed to find housing after scouring social media but others were not as lucky.<\/p>\n<p>Even if those in Gaza were able to send money to their relatives abroad, those who fled Israeli air raids have no income. When Mohammed\u2019s family left the house, they brought no more than $150, which \u201cran out after the seventh day of the war\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mohammed sketched out an old dream of his \u2013 to complete his law studies at Cairo University, specialising in international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2515707\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2515707\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2515707\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestinian prisoners in grey sweats among supporters and relatives after being released from Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli captives released by Hamas, in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank on November 26, 2023 [Fadel Senna\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis is what I dreamed of since my childhood, to represent my country and my cause in international forums, and to convey to the world the correct narrative of the Palestinian issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Palestinians, Mohammed said, love life and have dreams and ambitions. \u201cThey want to live in peace without fighting, killing, displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But after what he has experienced from afar in recent weeks, Mohammed is losing hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been disappointed in my childhood dream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a feeling that my law degree will be torn up. Why do we study laws and rights if we cannot protect them?\u201d He pleaded hopelessly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is the benefit of adopting laws and agreements if we do not see their effectiveness in Gaza?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo the children of Gaza not deserve security and peace like the rest of the world?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center;display:block\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hamas spokesperson thanks Qatar, Egypt for mediating truce deal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ykOnqU1thgs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2023\/11\/27\/grief-to-courage-a-palestinian-stranded-in-egypt-as-israel-bombs-gaza?traffic_source=rss\">\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lenkaed.com\" title=\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631\" rel=\"dofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict\" href=\"\/\">Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict Grief to courage: A Palestinian stranded in Egypt as Israel bombs Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict \u201cHello, I\u2019m Mohammed\u2026 of the family Kafarna. I am 24 years old and a law graduate from Al-Azhar University in Gaza. I live in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-estaql"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}