From Gaza to the world: Messages of tears and steadfastness

Gaza has plunged into darkness. Power stations in Gaza have been shut down due to running out of fuel, and even the remaining sources of electricity, such as car batteries and personal generators, are dwindling. The internet has been cut off, and the continuing targeting of journalists and the few media outlets in Gaza could result in a complete cessation of communications from the Strip. Every message that Palestinians in Gaza manage to convey may be the last. 

Jusoor Post collected messages from some of Gaza’s inhabitants, who have limited access to the internet, to document and make their voices heard. 

After the Israeli army demanded the inhabitants of Gaza, through flyers, to leave their homes in the northern Gaza Strip because they are going to shell the area intensely, Bayan, a young journalist from Gaza who refused, along with her family, to leave their home and be displaced, wrote on her account on X (formerly Twitter), “I'm Bayan, I've lived 27 years in my beautiful city, #Gaza. Today could be my last day here. My family and I refuse to relive the tragedy of the Nakba in 1948; we will not abandon our home. I cannot forgive the world, from the East to the West, for what might befall us. Hope our pictures will haunt you for life.” 

Bayan, Palestinian Journalist

On Mondy, the Israeli army targeted the headquarters of the Gazan Civil Defense Forces, which resulted in the death of at least seven rescuers. One of the survivor rescuers screamed in a video posted on social media, “We are bravely steadfast here in Gaza. No electricity, no water supplies, no rescue and firefighting equipment. We are civilians who try to help and rescue people with our bare hands! The Israelis targeted our colleagues while preparing for a mission to rescue people. Here is what the Israeli army targets.”

Palestinian paramedics cry after bombardment/ AFP

Soha Abushaban, a young woman from Gaza who, along with her family, refused to flee to southern Gaza and leave their home, wrote on X, “Imagine the airplanes flying in the sky above you, and the war is fierce with bombings happening everywhere, accompanied by the sounds of explosions. You find yourself having to clean your house from the rubble and the damage caused by the bombings. You collect shards and glass so that you can continue to live in it, just so you can persevere through the war!!! You're terrified and scared of the bombardment at the same time, while you're picking up the pieces, both of yourself and your home.”

Hosam Elmadhon, a doctor in Al-Awdeh Hospital in Gaza, wrote on his X account, “With every ambulance siren that arrives at the hospital, the martyrs and the wounded are brought down, and I begin to attend to them. I scrutinize their faces, fearing that someone from my family might be among them. When I’m sure they are not family or friends, I begin to think to myself ‘where was the bombardment this time?’  A multitude of questions weigh on my thoughts, and they exhaust me more than physical fatigue.”

Medics transport a youth injured in Israeli airstrikes on Beit al-Jazzar area, into al-Najjar hospital in Rafah city/ AFP

Despite all these messages that are full of tears, trauma, and steadfastness of the Gazan people, Sahar Mahdi, a young Gazan woman, affirmed on her account on X that the reality is more bitter, saying, “All the images and news you see represent just 1% of the suffering in Gaza. We are literally dying. I implore every honorable and free Arab to share the crimes of the occupation and expose them, demanding an immediate halt to the aggression on the Gaza Strip.”