‘My entire family is in Gaza’: Fear for loved ones makes life outside besieged enclave unbearable

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) — From the ongoing turmoil in Gaza, a heart-wrenching story of unimaginable loss and unwavering resilience emerges: Mohammed Vadi, a 40-year-old university lecturer, is living a nightmare none should have to endure.

In an interview, Vadi related to Anadolu his painful account of the recent escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and especially the escalation in the Gaza Strip, and how it took a devastating toll on his family. Nine of his relatives, including his eldest sister, were killed in the ensuing Israeli bombardment.

As a member of a large family, Vadi is painfully aware of the constant danger his loved ones face back in Gaza. “My entire family is there (Gaza), my father, mother, siblings, my brother.”

Vadi has been living in Istanbul since 2012, when he left Gaza to pursue his doctoral studies in Türkiye, where he now works as a lecturer in electrical and electronic engineering.

He described the dread of having loved ones in the besieged Palestinian enclave being subjected to unrelenting Israeli strikes and shells, while nearly all contact with the outside world has been cut under a “complete blockade” imposed by Tel Aviv.

“We might be in a more difficult situation than they (people in Gaza) are because we’re following the painful news, and one can’t lead a normal life here since we’re constantly monitoring the news 24/7 and can’t do much, which makes us feel helpless. But we pray. Sometimes we try to talk about the Palestinian issue, the Palestinian cause. That’s what we can do, but it’s truly a tough situation we’re experiencing here,” Vadi said.

“When something horrible is reported, we follow (developments) on the phone, on social media, and on the television and we try to reach them. Of course, in the first few days, there was internet, there was electricity, so we could reach them easily. But three days later, on Oct. 10, everything became much harder,” he added. “Sometimes, I unfortunately don’t even get one minute in a span of 24 hours to talk to my siblings, or my father, or my mother.”

The weight of his words is felt as he recounts the tragedy that befell his family. His sister, brother-in-law, four nephews, and his sister’s two grandchildren — one two years old and the other just two months — along with their mother, were among the victims of an Israeli attack.

“On the morning of Oct. 9, at around 8 in the morning, without any warning, without any notice, they dropped a bomb,” Vadi said. “They completely destroyed all three floors of the house. From the pictures I saw, it was as if the house no longer existed.”

Vadi’s sister was the family favorite, and her loss has been felt profoundly. His voice shaking, he described her as “the sister we love the most, we feel like she’s our mother. For my father, she’s a very close daughter as she was the first girl in the family, and my father loves her very much.”

- Gaza’s situation much worse than in 2014 war

“Nobody was expecting it,” Vadi said, referring to the surprise attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7.

“In the last three years, Hamas hadn’t really been active in terms of the conflict with Israel … it seemed to be on the sidelines,” he said, explaining that Israel had been more focused on Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian group. “But it seems they (Hamas) were preparing for this (attack) over the past three years.”

Vadi, far from his homeland, reflects on the shockwave that tore through the hearts of Gaza’s people when the conflict erupted. War had returned to a place that had already borne more suffering than most could endure.

“Actually, Israel always bombed civilians and innocent people before, but not like this,” Vadi said. “The current situation can be described as 100 times worse. The last war was in 2014, and everyone was saying it was the toughest war, the most difficult days we went through. But when I talk to people now, they say that war was nothing compared to this one.”

Asked if his family complied with Israel’s order for 1.1 million civilians to relocate from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip last week, Vadi said: “We don’t trust this enemy. They say, ‘Go to that area, it’s safe,’ but at the same time, they drop bombs and wipe (them) out. They wipe out people on the way to that area before they even get there. That’s the kind of enemy we’re dealing with, so we don’t trust them. Thus, everyone is staying at home, waiting for their fate.”

“We’ve fought, we’re fighting, and we’ll continue to fight. We have no other choice.”

On a devastating Israeli strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza earlier this week, Vadi likened the bombing to the Deir Yassin massacre by Zionist gangs, who killed more than 250 villagers west of Jerusalem during the mass expulsions of 1948.

“Even imagining something so vile, heartless, and immoral was not possible,” he said about the hospital strike, which killed more than 500 people late Tuesday.

“In the current situation, Israel’s attack, which goes against all morality, took place with weapons and approval from the US. Thus, Israel seems to view itself as above international law and is supported by Western countries and the US.”

Vadi believes that this attack, like previous ones, will be forgotten eventually, given Israel’s history of not being held accountable for its actions against Palestinians.

- Taking a shower is a dream

Even in their darkest hours, residents of Gaza, like Vadi’s brother persevere in the face of calamity. He had spoken to his brother last on Sunday, two days before his interview with Anadolu. “I tried to talk to him yesterday, but it didn’t work. I even tried to talk to him this morning — to no avail.”

“There has been no electricity, no water for a week, but he says, ‘We buy water by the liter.’ So, the situation is very dire right now. They can’t cook, and he says, ‘We buy readymade items from stores, and continue with them.’ When their phone battery runs out, he says, ‘There’s a friend in their neighborhood who has a small generator, run it for an hour or two, and the whole neighborhood gathers there to charge their phones.’”

“As for water, as I mentioned, it’s incredibly difficult to find. They purchase it by the liter. Taking a shower is now just a distant dream. People are trying to live on very limited resources.”

In a plea to the international community, Vadi said: “What I want to say to the world is this: Israel needs to know its place. They should stop killing children and innocent people. Enough is enough. We, like all people across the world, just want to live in our homeland, on our lands, and we always seek peace.”

The conflict in Gaza, under Israeli bombardment and blockade since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, along with stepping up raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank.

Officials have said more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed in the conflict.