At 4:37 am on 28 October 2023, my mother’s phone rang, piercing through the tense silence that enveloped our home in the Sheikh Ijleen neighborhood of Gaza City.
I remember the time vividly, because the ringing woke me and I checked my own phone. Amidst the chaos and ongoing blockade, hearing the phone ring was a surprise: connectivity was a luxury we didn’t expect.
It was my mother’s cousin, calling from the relative safety of the southern part of Gaza, frantically checking to see if we were okay.
We were in the north, where our neighborhood had been transformed into a military camp for Israeli soldiers.
It was nearly nine months ago now……more
