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As conflict surpassed the 100-day mark this week, nowhere is safe in Gaza. Including for Marfika, a mother of five. Marfika and her family moved from place to place desperately trying to avoid bombing once the conflict escalated — retreating to a relative’s home, a camp, Al-Shifa hospital, and then Al-Mamounia School. They thought they were finally safe at the school. But then everything changed: “We woke up at six in the morning, suddenly, we were told to leave now,” Marfika recalls. “We were trying to quickly grab our clothes and belongings when we found ourselves surrounded by airplanes and tanks and snipers. We saw people injured, children with dead mothers, bodies on the ground.”
“I ran barefoot. I didn't even have slippers on. I kept on running barefoot to escape the planes and the excessive bombing over the top of our heads, and the tanks throwing missiles. It was an extremely difficult day for us,” Marfika told us. “When I arrived here in Nasser hospital I didn't remember much about getting here, it was too much… There were burnt bodies on the side of the road and everywhere there was the smell of blood.” This is the devastating reality of life for tens of thousands of mothers in Gaza like Marfika — who is now struggling to access diapers, feed her family, and clothe her children. Marfika’s family and everyone displaced in Gaza are in desperate need of warmer items with winter upon them, which makes your generous donations delivering basic essentials and lifesaving resources even more impactful in this moment.
UNFPA deeply regrets the end of the humanitarian pause in Gaza. We condemn the violence in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, including all sexual violence against women, and echo the UN Secretary-General’s call for a sustained humanitarian ceasefire and for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages by Hamas. Thank you for being there. — USA for UNFPA |
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