Saturday, March 29, 2025
Gaza City | September 24, 2025 –
Amid relentless Israeli airstrikes, Gaza City lies in ruins, with collapsed buildings, debris, and fear gripping every corner. Among the victims is Noor Abu Hasira, a mother trapped in a basement with her three young daughters, groaning in pain and despair. “It feels like this will be our grave. We will die here. There is nowhere else to go,” Hasira said.
The ongoing conflict traces back to October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Since then, Israeli retaliatory strikes have devastated Gaza. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 65,000 Palestinians have died due to Israeli air raids.
Hasira’s apartment was hit in December, burying her and her daughters under concrete pillars. She suffered injuries to her shoulders, back, and legs, falling into a coma. When she regained consciousness in the hospital, her youngest daughter had a fractured skull. Since then, Israeli forces have conducted multiple raids on the hospital, detaining her husband Raed and several others. Raed, a journalist, is accused of working with Hamas-affiliated media, but Hasira insists he has no links to any militant group.
Before the war, Hasira and her family had moved into the Gaza City apartment, with Hasira working as a medical lab technician. They had saved money for a decade to build a secure and comfortable life, but the ongoing war has destroyed all their savings. The family, like many others, faces extreme shortages. Food prices have skyrocketed, with a kilo of flour reaching $60 (around ₹5,000) and a kilo of sugar costing $180 (about ₹16,000).
Despite the dire circumstances, Hasira remains in Gaza with her daughters Jouri, Maria, and Maha, unable to move to southern Gaza due to injuries and the prohibitive cost of $2,000 for temporary shelter. Even if they reach a safer area, challenges like water scarcity, cold, and pests will persist.
Hasira has moved 11 times within Gaza, yet danger follows her everywhere. Each drone overhead or bomb blast freezes her and other civilians in terror. “We are broken, but how can we leave? It feels like this place will become my and my daughters’ grave,” she said.
The story of Noor Abu Hasira is one among countless civilians trapped in Gaza, highlighting the human cost of the ongoing conflict and the desperate struggle for survival amid war.
