“Two Years of War: A Gaza Mother’s Fight to Protect Her Children”

A Life Torn Apart by War

For Lamis Dib, a 31-year-old mother of two, life in Gaza has become a relentless fight for survival. Two years of war, multiple displacements, and the deaths of her husband and father have transformed her once-happy family life into a daily struggle against hunger, fear, and loss.

“It’s indescribable,” Dib said, recalling life before the conflict consumed her city.

She remembers October 6, 2023, the last day of relative peace. Her daughter Suwar, then five, had just started kindergarten, while her three-year-old son Amin absorbed all her attention. From her apartment window in Sheikh Radwan, a northern Gaza City neighborhood, she would watch her children play, unaware that the next day would change everything.

The War’s Relentless Toll

Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked Israeli retaliatory strikes that devastated Gaza. Official figures indicate at least 66,225 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, while entire neighborhoods lie in rubble. Hospitals, schools, and water systems were destroyed, leaving millions without shelter or basic services.

Dib and her family were among the first displaced, fleeing their northern Gaza neighborhood as bombs fell. From there, they moved south to Khan Yunis, then Rafah, and later Nuseirat refugee camp, enduring 11 displacements over two years.

“Each move was a race against death,” Dib recalled. “I carried my kids, held them close, and ran without looking back, never knowing where we would be safe.”

In Rafah, 30 people shared a single room for six months, with no toilets, little food, and constant air strikes. “It was hard to express what we felt: hunger, thirst, lack of hygiene, and a total absence of privacy,” she said.

Tragedy Strikes Again

In August 2024, Dib’s life changed forever. While at Nuseirat refugee camp, her husband and father were killed by a missile strike.

“I ran toward the rooftop. The scene was unimaginable. My husband’s body seemed intact, and I thought he was alive. But he had been struck in the head. My father’s hand had been blown off,” she said.

From that moment, Dib became the sole caretaker for her children amid the war’s harshest conditions. She now lives in a tent in Al-Zawayda, sharing space with thousands of other displaced Palestinians.

“Everything is difficult,” she said, gesturing at the tarp that flaps in the wind, baking under the summer sun and leaking during winter rains.

Survival Amid Scarcity

Even after Israel partially eased its blockade in May 2025, humanitarian aid remains insufficient. Dib’s children are deprived of regular schooling, adequate food, and the chance for a normal childhood.

“Our children were robbed of education, food, and a normal life,” she said, cradling Amin and helping Suwar with her studies on her lap.

The family fetches water from a temporary station near their tent, a daily task that underscores the ongoing struggle to meet basic needs. UNICEF estimates that every child in Gaza requires psychological support, reflecting the long-term trauma faced by Dib’s children and countless others.

A Glimmer of Hope

Despite her grief and exhaustion, Dib remains resolute.

“We’ll return to our home. We will rebuild it. But we just want a little bit of peace.”

For now, her days are defined by survival, carrying water, shielding her children from the dangers of war, and holding onto the hope that one day Gaza’s children might experience safety, education, and childhood again.

In Dib’s story, the human cost of the conflict is starkly visible, a mother’s unending fight to protect her family amid war, loss, and displacement.

{Source: IOL}

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