A 40-year-old mother of four from the neighborhood of a-Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City, Hiyam described her family’s suffering amid incessant airstrikes in a testimony she gave B'Tselem field researcher Muhammad Sabah on 13 November 2023:
I used to live in the neighborhood of a-Sheikh Radwan with my husband, Ihssan Ibrahim (40), our four sons and my mother, Sabhah al-Bitar (71).
On 25 October 2023, we decided to leave home and move to relatives near Gaza’s seaport. We couldn’t take the bombing in our area anymore. We stayed there for a few days. Three days ago, we decided to move to Salah a-Din School in the neighborhood of a-Rimal. The school was very crowded, with a lot of people. We didn't have anywhere to sit, so we just sat on the floor. There was nowhere to sleep, either. We fell asleep sitting up. It took two days to receive blankets and mattresses. The conditions were rough. We stood in line for everything – to go to the bathroom, to fill up water, to get food. There were lots of people everywhere, and shouting all around. There was very little food, too. We were given a pita each and two or three cans of food for the entire family. On 10 November 2023, the school came under fire, so we decided to leave.
We moved to the YMCA building. With us here are about 200 other people. There are long lines here, too, to use the toilet and shower, and not enough food and water. In general, the water we’re given is salty and undrinkable. But we have no other choice, so we drink it. We had some tinned food and za'atar that we held onto because we knew we wouldn't be able to go around buying groceries. Everything is very dangerous. Most of the shops are closed and there’s nothing to buy in those that are open.
There’s no power at all. All day long, all we hear is missiles and bombs. It doesn’t let up for a minute. We see tanks on the roads, too, even a kilometer away from the building we’re sheltering in.
My young children are very scared of the bombings. So is my mother, who has a heart condition and high blood pressure. She’s anxious all the time. We barely sleep, and even when we do fall asleep, it’s disrupted. But we can't leave the city because my mother is ill and won't be able to go. So we have to stay here.