November 28, 2023: On the 23rd day of the 2023 Palestinian holocaust, while my family and I were having lunch, our bread got spoiled with dust, glass and death.
Four-year-old Salma often wakes up late at night crying violently. She stares at the smoke of the bombing until it fades away and asks, 바카라People died?바카라
November 28, 2023: On the 23rd day of the 2023 Palestinian holocaust, while my family and I were having lunch, our bread got spoiled with dust, glass and death.
Four rockets were fired at a target that surely threatened the safety of Israel바카라a wedding hall where hundreds of forcibly expelled families were seeking safety. It was only 40 meters away from us, and was yet another brutal massacre 바카라 a massacre justified by Israel바카라s 바카라right to defend itself바카라 and propelled by its goal to rid Gaza of 바카라Arabs,바카라 creating a second Nakba.
Wide-eyed horror filled the faces of my three nieces. Salma, the eldest, is four years old. It wasn바카라t the first time I had watched the life drain from her face. Two weeks earlier, our whole family had been forced to evacuate twice in five hours when the whole of our neighborhood was targeted for bombing. We finally ran barefoot to an UNWRA school where we found thousands of people covered with dust, sweat and blood. Salma stayed in a classroom corner, gazing at the scenes around her, not reacting to anyone.
We were able to return after a few days. Salma, always full of questions, asked us why all the people were in the school. We told her they no longer have homes.
바카라Why?바카라
바카라Because Zionists bombed them.바카라
바카라Will they bomb our home?바카라
Now whenever there is bombing nearby, she shivers and hugs whoever is closest asking, 바카라Is it Zionists?바카라 Any kind of loud sound makes her cry, even a car. She won바카라t move to any corner of the house alone. She begs one of us to go with her.
On this day, Salma came to sit on my lap with one question. 바카라Why do they bomb us?바카라
So I told her the story of how it all began.
I told her that a long time ago we Palestinians lived peacefully in our beautiful country Palestine, but in other countries bad things were happening to some people. So a decision was made to move these people into our land. These strangers did not care about our Palestinian families, our neighbours or our traditions. After they arrived, they took and took and took and continue to take. 바카라They want everything, even our falafel.바카라 I added falafel to stress to what absurd extent the occupation had taken its theft.
바카라But Teta (grandma) makes our falafels every breakfast! They바카라re ours!바카라 Salma said, with anger in her eyes, the same flare of anger that had burst into so many eyes 75 years before.
바카라That바카라s why we fight them, sweetie. We have heroes who fight them for us. We call them 바카라the resistance.바카라바카라
바카라Re-sist-ance,바카라 she repeated.
바카라Yes, that바카라s how we fight for our land back, all of our land,바카라 I responded.
She hugged me, retold the story to her little sisters and went to sleep. But it was the usual tortured sleep. Salma and all of her sisters often wake up late at night crying violently. When we can see the smoke of the bombing, she stares at it until it fades away and then asks, 바카라People died?바카라
After she heard that my uncle had been murdered in a bombing, she asked,바카라 So he won바카라t come to Eid?바카라
Salma and her sisters suffer from a violence they don바카라t understand. When she came to me and I told her the story it was to explain that we have the right, and now she prays for 바카라the resistance.바카라
On the 44th day of the Palestinian holocaust, Salma바카라s father asked her, 바카라Should we leave our country to Zionists? Should we go to a safe country that바카라s not ours?바카라
바카라I want to stay in Palestine, Baba.바카라
바카라What about the bombing?바카라
바카라We can stay. We have the resistance.바카라
바카라The old will die and the young will forget,바카라 is what the invaders have believed for 75 years. Yet with every murderous crime, new fuel is poured on the fire of resistance, which every traumatised child like Salma carries in their young heart. Resistance may be all she has in the end. When the suffering is endless, it binds one generation바카라s suffering to the next. This is why many Palestinians may die, but our children will never forget.
( was born in Saudi Arabia before moving to Gaza. She studied software engineering at the University of Palestine, and is a member of Freedom Writers Foundation. This written by her was published on the website .)
(Compiled by Swati Subhedar)