On 26 September, around 2:30 in the afternoon, I was on the roof of my family’s home in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza. I was studying online, and the roof is one of the few places where I can catch an internet signal.
I was in a Zoom meeting when I felt our house shake. I heard a loud noise and I saw dense smoke nearby and shrapnel flying at our roof. At first I was paralyzed with fear, then I ran inside.
I thought our house had been targeted, but it was not. Israel had instead launched missiles, with no warning, at the Hafsa al-Faluja School, where I had once been a student and where displaced people now sought shelter.
I rushed to the school, located just 30 meters from our home, to see what had happened and to see if I could help. The air was filled with screams and people crying out for their loved ones. …more