A 43-year old married mother of six from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip
We are a family of eight and live on the third floor of a building. Since the airstrikes began in Gaza on Saturday, 7 October 2023, we haven’t really slept. The combination of fear and lack of sleep is making me shaky. We hear the city being bombed all the time and it’s terrifying. The power was cut off three days ago, so the water pump isn’t working either and we have no running water. We take turns with the neighbors using an electricity generator that belongs to one of them. One apartment uses it at a time. We turn it on for about two hours in the morning and the evening to pump water up to the tanks on the roof, charge phones and have some light. But the diesel is running out and the owner warned us that soon we won't be able to turn it on.
We can’t use the refrigerator or washing machine. My daughter came here with her husband and his family, 12 people in all. So now there are 20 of us, some staying in the apartment and the others on the roof, outside.
The stores are running out of food since a lot of people arrived from northern Gaza. Since we can’t store food in the refrigerator, that means we’re down to one meal a day.
This morning we called the water company. They said that they can’t run the desalination plants because there’s no power, so they can’t supply us with water. The gas is about to run out, too. There’s only a little left in the tank and we have three other empty tanks. The gas company said there’s no gas at the stations. I don't know what I'll do if it runs out. Without power either, we won’t be able to cook.
Two days ago, they bombed a house near us. All our windows shattered. Now it feels like we’re sleeping out on the street. There’s no insulation.
The nonstop bombing keeps us awake most of the night, and we only fall asleep in the early hours of the morning. It’s impossible to sleep. Every time there’s a bombing, the kids start screaming and running around the apartment. We don't know where is best to sit and keep moving from room to room.
My husband and I are worried about our family’s future. Even if we survive the bombings, I don't know what we’ll live on. My husband works as a day laborer. He doesn't have a steady salary and when he doesn't work, he doesn't earn anything. We don’t know what we’ll live on and at the moment, it doesn’t look like any aid will be provided.
* Testimony given to B'Tselem Field Researcher Khaled al-‘Azayzeh.