A 35-year-old mother of three from Gaza City
I met my husband, Ayman (34), in the United Arab Emirates and we got married there. We lived there until 2019 with our three children, who were born there: Jud (9), Ahmad (7) and Ward (5). When the coronavirus pandemic broke out, problems started at my husband’s workplace. He was working as an electrical engineer and was eventually laid off. The children and I went back to live in the Gaza Strip, and my husband returned to Tulkarm, where he was born and where his family lives. That’s how our family was torn apart. He found a job there, and he in a rental with roommates to save money. He sends about half of his salary to us.
The last time we met was in October 2019, when I went with the children to meet their father in Turkey. Ward, who was two years old at the time, squealed with joy when she saw her dad at the airport. We spent three months there together, and then I went back with the children to Gaza and my husband returned to Tulkarm.
Traveling with the children was very difficult, especially through Rafah Crossing.
Ahmad keeps recalling the experiences he had with his father and says the only thing he wants is his dad. One night, Ward fell and hit her head and I had to take her to hospital, so I left Jud and Ahmad, who were very small, alone at home. It’s very hard to cope with the kids without my husband, especially now that Jud has a thyroid infection. She has to get surgery to remove a tumor on her neck. I’m afraid of the responsibility of consenting to the surgery alone, without my husband, because the doctors say it’s an operation that can put her at risk.
Our family is in pieces. The children suffer from their father’s absence, so I try to call him whenever there’s s a good internet connection. Sometimes my husband gets within a few kilometers of Gaza and calls to say he’s close by. It makes me cry, knowing he’s so close to us but we can’t see him. I know his family in Tulkarm is also giving him a hard time because we’re torn apart. I’m scared that in the end, we’ll have to get divorced and there will be no solution. Because I live alone, people are constantly checking on me. Because of the mentality in Gaza, it’s hard for me to be independent and sometimes I have to come home before it gets dark, even if I haven’t finished my errands.
It’s been almost two years since my husband last filed for a change of address for me and the children, and we haven’t received an answer yet.
Update: Hanan Abu Sa’ traveled with her children to Egypt hoping to reach Jordan and from there enter the West Bank. However, she reported that after an exhausting journey and difficulties at the crossing, the Jordanian authorities denied them entry and they had to turn back.
* Interviewed and filmed by B'Tselem Field Researchers Khaled al-'Azayzeh and Olfat al-Kurd, B'Tselem.