“Before the conflict, I had a beautiful house. I lived my best life and dreams in it”, says Baha, showing me a succession of photographs. Then he produces another. “This is how my home is now.”
A family separated and displaced
The 35-year-old, who worked for an advertising company, saw his whole life turned upside down when the bombs began to fall. Around the same time that he lost his home, he lost his job, and his wife Samaa, a teacher, also found herself out of work. Some teachers have continued to provide a rudimentary education for children in camps for displaced people, but nobody can afford to pay for it. With no income and a toddler to look after, the family was forced to relocate multiple times, and couldn’t always stay together.
“I moved to the south and stayed there for a year and a half with my family, moving from one region to another”, he explains. “Sometimes I stayed at my aunt’s house, sometimes in a camp, and sometimes in an international shelter. Sometimes on public government lands.”
The problem of infertility
While he remembers life before the conflict as a wonderful time, he and Samaa did have one major struggle. Like one in six couples around the world, they found it difficult to conceive a child, even after years of trying.
“I resorted to artificial insemination, and after three failed operations, one operation succeeded”, he recalls. “My little girl Julia was born.”
“Julia did not have a good childhood like other children in the world. [For] two years she lived under fire and bombing. A few days ago, she was injured by stones falling from a shelling near my tent. She was injured in her toenail, and it was removed because the stones hit her leg. She screamed so loudly that anyone far away could hear her voice.”
It’s clearly hard for him to think about what happened, and he briefly breaks down. “I want to hold her in my arms and never leave her, and for us to die together.”
New life and fresh hope in a war zone
He and Julia are now staying at his grandfather’s house, where there are 40 people in all. Samaa has recently been with her parents in the north, but is on her way to join them, as intensified bombing means that it’s now too dangerous to remain.
Looking after Samaa is an even higher priority for him now, because she is six months pregnant – a turn of events that came as a shock to both of them.
“It is an indescribable feeling that she got pregnant naturally”, he says. “The good news came like a thunderbolt to my heart. I was very happy. I think my wife’s extreme fear and psychological disturbance made her pregnant. My wife was very afraid of the sounds of bombing and destruction every night. I studied that when the body is afraid and disturbed, the wife may become pregnant because of that. Many women who had not been pregnant before the war became pregnant.”
Some scientists believe that there is an evolutionary mechanism that changes body chemistry in situations where a population is threatened, so that more babies will be born.
Julia is looking forward to having a baby sister, he tells me. “She was so excited that yesterday her grandmother drew a piece of flour for her and said, ‘This is your sister, Talia.’ She felt happy while eating her sister.” He laughs.
Growing hunger and rising prices
Today brought the news that a small amount of food is being allowed to cross the border – but as Baha points out, it’s unlikely to do much to alleviate the hunger that everyone there is facing.
“It’s just a few trucks passing by – food supplements for children and some flour. Very, very, very small quantities. There is a daily need for approximately 700 trucks to feed 2.5 million people in Gaza.”
Due to the shortages, prices have skyrocketed. “A bag of flour costs $400. A kilo of sugar is $30,” he says. “I don’t have much to provide for my family.”
Some food is still being grown in Gaza, but even that is fraught with risk. “The farmer finds it difficult to harvest it because the lands are located on the borders. Being there poses a risk to his life. Also, whoever can bring vegetables sells them at high prices.”
Shortages, hospitals destroyed and bills to pay
“Here people suffer a lot from lack of food and drink. The shortage of medicines has led to the death of many people because of the deterioration of the health system here. The European Hospital was recently destroyed, and also the Baptist Hospital. Like the horrors of Judgment Day… the moment the occupation bombed the European Hospital yard in Khan Yunis yesterday. Many victims fall every day.”
His father recently had back surgery, adding to the family’s worries, as the Israeli military has been accused of deliberately targeting hospitals. It also means more bills to pay. Baha dreams of getting back on his feet some day, but just now it’s hard to imagine how the conflict, which cost almost 800 Palestinian lives in the past four days alone, can be brought to a permanent end.
Hopes for a safer life in Gaza or elsewhere
“If I do not find safety for me, my wife and my daughter, I will leave Gaza”, says Baha sadly. “If safety and security are established in Gaza, I will continue to [live in] Gaza. Circumstances will determine that in the future.”
He hopes that people around the world will help to bring about peace by denouncing the Israeli attacks and pressuring their governments to take action.
“We hope to live a safe life, far from death and fear”, he says.
If you would like to help Baha and his family directly, you can contribute to their fundraiser here.
