‘My brothers, my brothers!’: Survivors recall chaos after al-Mawasi attacks
Al Jazeera
Palestinians displaced to al-Mawasi and Nuseirat recall scrambling to find their family members after Israeli strikes.
Deir el-Balah, Gaza – On Saturday morning, Waad Abu Zaher was standing on a crowded street in al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip trying to find a donkey cart, minibus or some other transport so she could go to work.
The 30-year-old journalist works out of a media tent at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis and commutes east from a tent camp in al-Mawasi. She lives there with her parents and four brothers, who have been displaced eight times since Israel first issued an evacuation order soon after the war on Gaza began on October 7.
That morning she watched as her father left for work and her brothers went off to collect water and buy groceries. It was around 10am as she stood in a lively part of the camp for displaced people, with vendors, water filling points and a community kitchen distributing food to children who had lined up to collect free meals.
“Suddenly, the first missile hit, then the second. I found myself flying and landing a short distance away. The sky turned white with dust. The third missile. I started running and screaming, ‘My brothers, my brothers!'” she recounted, choking up as she spoke over WhatsApp.
“Israel not only forced us to live in tents unsuitable for human life, but also pursued us here with bombs and missiles,” she said.
