Displaced in Gaza is a collection of personal testimonies from Gazans who have been repeatedly displaced within their homeland since October 7, 2023, with these stories being collected in May 2024, commissioned by the Hashim Sani Center for Palestine Studies at Universiti Malaya. Displaced in Gaza aims to raise global awareness about the violent and forcible displacement inflicted upon the Palestinians, and the impact this has had on every aspect of their normal life. Every story is unique, yet the endurance of the Palestinian people remains a common thread, linking each story of hope and loss together.
Aisha Osama Abu Ajwa
My name is Aisha Osama Abu Ajwa, I am 30 years old. I am from Al-Zaytoun neighborhood. Before the war, I could barely provide for their needs to secure a decent life for my 4 children. Now, the crimes of the occupation added two orphaned children for me to care for and nurture after the occupation killed their parents. I am now a mother of 6 children.
Fidaa Fathi Abu Yousef
My name is Fidaa Fathi Abu Yousef. I am 40 years old and live in Al-Nuseirat Camp. The occupation killed my young son Odai. My dream is to continue Odai's journey, providing my children a good life, education, a home, stable job. I hope war ends soon. Eight months of continuous killing exhausts us.
Rehab Musa Al-Jamal
My name is Rehab Musa Al-Jamal, 54 years old, from the village of Aqir occupied in 1948. I live in Al-Nusairat Camp. Today, I live displaced with my relatives after losing my house and my eldest brother in an Israeli airstrike on our home.
Yusra Salem Abu Awad
My name is Yusra Salem Abu Awad, and I am 63 years old. The occupation took the lives of three of my grandchildren who fled to Al Shati Camp, denying me the chance to bid them farewell. They were buried in mass graves in Gaza City.
Youssef Qawash
My name is Youssef Qawash, I am 12 years old. The occupation left me and my younger siblings without a father, without a home, and without means to support ourselves. We pray for an end to this war, and for the occupation to be held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
Um Ayman Abu Bakra
I am a Palestinian woman, 80 years old, born before the Nakba in 1948. I was 4 years old when Palestine was occupied. I live with my deaf children and 27 grandchildren in my house on the eastern border separating us from our occupied lands. My family has been in danger all our lives because of our proximity to the border, but I consider this place my life and I feel a strong connection to it. Our demand is the liberation of our homeland and our return to our homes destroyed by the occupation during this oppressive war.
Somia Issa Mustafa Saleh
My name is Somia Issa Mustafa Saleh, 32 years old, from Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. My husband was killed by an Israeli sniper while searching for water. I dream of being able to secure a dignified future for my children; they are my husband's trust to me, and they are all I have left in this life.
Shaymaa Ali Al-Eisswei
My name is Shaymaa Ali Al-Eisswei, and I am 56 years old. The occupation arrested my husband during its invasion of the city of Hamad, north of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. We were besieged in our shelled apartment for several days. My dream is for all prisoners to be released from the occupation's prisons.
Shaymaa Al-Durra
My name is Shaymaa Al-Durra, I am 28 years old, my family and I have been exposed to all forms of injustice and genocide. After the death of my dear husband, Mohammed, I'm now left to care for our three young children by myself.
Sa'id Khamees Al-Halabi
My name is Sa'id Khamees Al-Halabi, I am 12 years old. I own my own trampoline business at an UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which shelters thousands of displaced people. I make little money, and every day, I know I could be the next martyr. My dream is for smiles to return to all the children of Gaza.
Um Ashraf
My name is Um Ashraf, I was born and raised in the Beach refugee camp west of Gaza City. This is my story of hosting countless displaced people in my home and witnessing the heinous crimes of the occupation's genocide of Gaza.
Ali Al-Owaisat
My name is Ali Al-Owaisat, and I am 29 years old. My mother dreamed of traveling and undergoing kidney transplant surgeries. My mother tried her best to be patient, believing that she might be able to travel soon, live her life normally, and overcome the disease, but she died complaining to God about the injustice of the occupation and the world's abandonment of the suffering of patients in Gaza.
Nidaa Zaki Abu Toha
My name is Nidaa Zaki Abu Toha, I am 33 years old. Our dream is to get food and water daily, to return to our house in Al Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, and to be able to rebuild our house. I dream of educating my children and creating a beautiful future for them.
Najlaa Al-Kafarna
My name is Najla Hani Al-Kafarnah, and I am 28 years old. We were displaced from our home on the second day of the war on Gaza on October 8, 2023. My husband was martyred on the third day of the war, leaving me alone with the responsibility of raising three children and taking care of them. I dream of providing security and safety for my children, and for the genocide we are facing to end soon, and for the life of humiliation we are living in to end.
Mohammed Al-Bibi
My name is Mohammed Ali Al-Bibi, I am 17 years old, a tenth-grade student. I used to live with my family in our house in the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. Our life was peaceful and beautiful before the war, but everything changed during this war, and I lost everything I had.
Mohammed Abdul Jabbar
My name is Mohammed Abdul Jabbar Abu Seif. I was 15 years old during the occupation of Palestine in 1948. Now, I am 91 years old, and I know that this war is larger than 1948 Nakba. My testament to my children and grandchildren is to never leave Gaza.
Manar Wadi
My name is Manar Wadi, I am 30 years old. I am from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. I was under siege in Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis for a month long. During that time, I saw death at every moment, and fled under from heavy shelling. I don't know how I am still alive.
Ikram Talaat Ahmed
My name is Ikram Talaat Ahmed. I am 29 years old. This is the story of our great loss caused by the Israeli occupation during their war on the Gaza Strip, and my resistance to the occupation through education.
Aseel Al-Hawajri
My name is Aseel Al-Hawajri, I am a 14 year old student from Juhar Al-Dik in Gaza, selling chips and sweets to provide my family with money to get by. Today we are displaced, but tomorrow the war will stop, and we will return to rebuild our homes. I will continue studying until I achieve my dream.
Fidaa Abdullah Al-Shakhreet
My name is Fidaa Abdullah Al-Shakhreet, I am 32 years old, from Beit Hanoun. On the fifth day of the war, my husband was martyred. I have now become both a mother and a father to my children.
Tareq Fareed Al-Hajj
My name is Tareq Fareed Al Hajj. I am 30 years old. It happened on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, the birthday of my little daughter Suwar, who turned 3 years old. I had promised her that her birthday would be special, but on her third birthday, the occupation killed her.
Akram Abdul Nabi Al-Ajrami
My name is Akram Abdul Nabi Al-Ajrami. I am 61 years old. I used to own a beautiful house in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Now, I spend my time organizing recreational and educational activities for children and all residents of the tents. This is my daily life as a displaced person living in a tent in the city of Deir al-Balah.
Ahmed Nasr Halas
My name is Ahmed Nasr Halas, and I am 42 years old. The occupation destroyed the two pharmacies I owned in Gaza City. Despite this, I opened another one in my tent as I felt a responsibility to serve the displaced people of my nation.
Nasreen Naeem Al-Hilu
My name is Nasreen Naeem Al-Hilu, and I am 47 years old, from Gaza City. My dream is for the war to end, to return to my home and rebuild it again, and for my Lord to grant me the strength to raise my orphaned grandchildren, educate them well, and protect them as they are the trust of my martyred sons.
Mohammed Al-Taweel
My name is Mohammed Al-Taweel, I am 23 years old. I am from the Bureij camp in central Gaza. My dream is to finish my English degree, but the Israeli war displaced my family and took everything from us. Now, I cut hair to provide my family with funds to maintain our tent.
Hajj Abu Sultan
My name is Hajj Abu Sultan, I am 58 years old. I am from the Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza, where my home was bombed by Israel, resulting in the martyrdom of 10 of my family members and my wife, Ahlam Mohammed Abu Sultan. My dream is for the war to stop.
Hala Adel Al-Najmi
My name is Hala Al-Najmi, I am 13 years old. I am from the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, where the occupation forces bombed my home, killing everyone in my family except my brother and I. My dream is for the war to stop and for my brother to walk again.
Since Oct. 7, more than 37,000Palestinians have been killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza. Another 10,000 are estimated to be buried under the rubble. Over 2 million people have been displaced from their homes.