Five years ago, I started thinking about opening a restaurant to improve my family’s financial situation and increase our monthly income. In 2020, I rented two stores at al-Jawharah Tower and signed a three-year lease. The annual rent was 8,000 USD. The idea was to start a restaurant where women cook and serve home-made food for families where the woman works and has no time to cook.
I put about 100,000 USD into starting the restaurant. I bought fridges, ovens, cooktops, mixers and other appliances, as well as food products which we kept in storage. The restaurant had an open kitchen where you could watch the food being prepared. There was also a room that served as an office and had a laptop computer, a printer and some furniture. We mostly did deliveries, and didn’t have a lot of people dine in.
The restaurant opened on 1 March 2021, after several months of renovations and preparations. I called it Beituna. Seven women worked there – three chefs, three assistants and a cashier – as well as a cleaner. These people provided for their families.
After the restaurant opened, we put a lot of work into advertising and marketing. A lot of people took an interest in our business because all the staff were women. We made home deliveries and catered for social events, weddings and mourning tents. Ahead of Ramadan and ‘Eid al-Fitr, we bought and stored a large quantity of raw materials, because that’s usually a time when lots of prepared meals are ordered.
On 12 May 2021, I was home when suddenly, I heard on the news that the tower was going to be bombed. I was shocked. I thought about going to the restaurant to get the equipment and furniture out, but ended up not going because the tower is far from my house, and I heard a warning missile had already been fired at it. I stayed home and followed the news.
A few hours later, the tower was bombed. I saw the missiles destroy my restaurant in front of my eyes. Those were very difficult moments for me – seeing everything I’d worked so hard for, and my entire investment, being laid to waste. More than a year of work ruined, in seconds, and for no reason.
After the war was over, I went to the restaurant hoping to salvage some of the equipment, but when I got there, I was shocked by what I saw. The restaurant was in a catastrophic state, completely destroyed. The place was unrecognizable.
I’ve lost my sole source of income. Eight other families did, too. I put everything I had into that restaurant, and I also borrowed large sums of money from relatives, banks and other institutions to complete the project. Now I don’t know how I’m going to pay off the debt. I keep thinking about the disaster that’s happened to me and how I’ll get out of this situation. The economic situation in Gaza is terrible.
I think about the fate of the women who worked at my restaurant, too. They’ve also lost their families’ only source of income, and they come from humble households without other means.
Since the restaurant was destroyed, I’ve been sitting at home without work. I’m still waiting to get compensation from the Hamas government, at least for the damage I suffered. I’m sorry to say the days are passing and there’s no solution on the horizon. We haven’t received any compensation from anyone so far, because the occupation is dragging its feet, avoiding reconstruction of Gaza and preventing the money needed for reconstruction from getting through. That’s why the problem is grows exponentially over time.
Testimony given to B'Tselem field researcher Khaled al-’Azayzeh on 29 June 2021