NAGHAM KARAJA

PALESTINE_Joud Abu Riala sits in the displacement tent next to her mother, Nour, while carrying the traces of burns and scars on her face, preparing to face another day of bullying, difficulty moving, and fetching water, before she is able to absorb the loss of five of her siblings and her father. She found herself injured, living with her mother who was also injured and her younger brother, in the absence of the necessary treatment.

Joud Abu Riala (10 years old), the daughter of Nour Abu Riala, pauses at the moment that changed her life, and recalls in a voice burdened with fear what happened when an Israeli missile fell on the house. "My siblings and I were sitting, and suddenly a missile fell on us. I found myself stuck under the stones, and I did not know anything about my siblings. I heard the sound of someone walking, so I started screaming until he lifted the stones off me and took me to the hospital."

There, she learned that five of her siblings were killed in this raid, and that she no longer had anyone but her mother and younger brother. As for her father, he was killed about a year before that massacre, after an Israeli sniper hit him while the family was leaving their home during the Israeli forces' incursion into the "Sheikh Radwan" neighborhood.

Repeated Loss

Nour Abu Riala recalls her life before the war in Gaza, when she was living with her husband and children in their home, before the Israeli attacks pushed them to displace from one place to another. In November 2023, the family was staying in a house in the “Sheikh Radwan” neighborhood, when Israeli forces advanced into the area and reached the vicinity of the house at night, simultaneously with the hovering of “Quadcopter” drones and the spread of snipers.

She says: “We were on the fourth floor, and we tried to descend to the first floor miraculously. Everyone succeeded in descending, but the sniper shot my husband while he was descending, and he died immediately on 22 December 2023."

Fear never left the children, which pushed her sometimes to move between her residence and her family's house in search of a feeling of safety. She adds: "My children did not feel safe, and they needed someone to contain them. I had to take them to my family's house because of fear, until I finally settled in my house." But the stability she sought did not last long.

A Missile Under the Rubble

On 18 November 2024, the house in which the family was staying was subjected to direct bombardment. Nour Abu Riala and her children were inside. Members of the family were injured, including Nour, her daughter Joud, and her child Mohammed (5 years old), while five of her children were killed.

She says: "I lost consciousness for about four hours. When I woke up, I felt as if I were in a dream, and I began to ask: What happened? Where are my children? They were telling me they were fine, but I kept repeating that they had been martyred. I was certain of that, to the point that I insisted on knowing the truth."

Joud sustained burns on her face that left clear scars, while her mother Nour suffered fractures in her head and leg and burns on her body, and needs surgery that she cannot obtain in light of the shortage of medical services.

Nour Abu Riala explains that her injury limits her ability to move, as she relies on a crutch to walk, while her daughter still needs treatment for the effects of burns and scars. As for her child Mohammed, he also needs medical follow-up.

The family's losses were not limited to lives and injuries; the bombardment left them in need of the simplest necessities of life. With the children injured, the family needed food, clothing, medicines, creams, ointments, and the needles necessary to treat burns.

She adds that the continuous treatment needs and the difficulty of life in the tent still exceed her ability to endure. She recounts: "There is no one to carry life's burdens for me. I cannot even fill or carry water because of my injury, and my daughter cannot carry it alone, and her brother is still young."

Wounds the Tent Cannot Hide

The child Joud Abu Riala places her hands in front of her face as she speaks about her sisters and brothers whom she lost, then sums up her wish in a few words: “ I wish my siblings would come back, and my father would come back. “She breaks down crying at the end of the interview, while her wish remains suspended between a loss that cannot be compensated and a treatment she needs to alleviate the effects of her injury.

As for Nour Abu Riala, she appeals to humanitarian and medical bodies and to those capable of helping to provide an opportunity for her and her two surviving children to receive treatment, considering her need for surgery, and the continued need of Joud and Mohammed for medical care.