Help the Khatib family survive

I am Mohamed from the Al-Khatib family. We lived a life of relative stability, like all residents of Gaza, before this genocide. I had a law practice which was my livelihood and sustained my family. However, we suffered from the relentless successive wars on Gaza for 17 years, and in the devastating 2021 war, tragedy struck our very doorstep.

 

A missile fired from the occupation war planes landed on a neighbouring house, taking my beloved brother Muayyad’s life before he even reached 20. Our world plunged into darkness, our joys changed into sorrows. The spark of passion for life was extinguished.

 

In the wake of my brother’s loss, we contemplated selling our property and seeking refuge in another country. But my mother clung steadfastly to the homeland that cradled a piece of her, refusing to abandon it.

 

But then came this most destructive and deadly war, reducing my office to rubble. This space, once the sanctuary where I defended the rights of the oppressed, was now reduced to ruins, mirroring the turmoil within my soul. This injustice and destruction also struck our home, consumed by the flames of the occupation, engulfing our cherished possessions and memories, both happy and sad.

 

On the darkest day ever, 11th May, 2024, our family lost 17 loved ones—8  innocent children, 5 women, and 4 men—all snuffed out in an instant as the occupation bombed my relatives' home, murdering my mother’s mother, her brother and his wife, her sister, and all their children. Once more, my mother was left to bear the unbearable weight of separation due to the martyrdom of so many family members.

 

As this war rages on, we cling desperately to the hope of survival and long to escape the inevitable death that pursues us relentlessly in Gaza, to refuge in Egypt.

 

I appeal to your consciences and compassionate hearts to help us escape almost certain death. I long to continue defending the rights of the downtrodden, but in a different land, for in Gaza, the city of death, I have been robbed of my dreams and aspirations.

 

Help me and my remaining loved ones escape the unending cycle of tragedy and rebuild a future, untainted by the horrors of war.