طالب من غزة: الهرب من الموت مرتين

Editor's Note: This testimony was collected by journalist Ahmad al-Batta based in southern Gaza.

I was on my way to university, riding the bus, when the Israeli airstrikes began. I hurried home and found my parents sheltering on the ground floor of our building (we live on the second floor), afraid. My family decided to evacuate and leave our house in Khan Yunis because we feared the indiscriminate bombardment of civilians. It was difficult for me to leave our home but it was necessary to be safe, I have younger siblings; children. 

We left our house and sought refuge in the center of the city, hoping to find safety. The bombs, however, were falling everywhere and so, we decided to go back home. When we got there, we discovred that our home and our entire neighborhood had been turned to rubble by Israeli airstrikes.

Images of Saeed's home before and after Israeli strikes targeted it.

We returned to central Khan Yunis but within hours after we arrived, the house next to us was bombed without warning. It was a miracle that we even managed to escape death when the neighbors were bombed. One of the windows crashed on my head. It was a massacre. It was a painful. All those martyrs and wounded. 

Despite this pain, the spirit of our people has not been broken. Residents have opened their homes to welcome displaced families... Others took the initiative to distribute food parcels to those in need and volunteered to drive people from one place to another, no matter the danger. We are not afraid but for states to have turned their back on us, that is shameful and we shall never forgive them. Perhaps this is the last time you hear from us, there is no safe place in Gaza... the world must act before Gaza is annihlated.

This testimony was translated into English by Aya Jayyousi and Laura Albast.