On Mother's Day, Gazan mothers grieve for children lost to war

By Bekir Aydogan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Mothers in Gaza are struggling to survive amid relentless Israeli attacks.

As many as 10,000 women were killed in the Gaza Strip where Israel has indiscriminately dropped bombs since Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli forces have deliberately targeted civilian areas, including schools, hospitals, mosques, and churches, where civilians seek refuge.

Since October, over 35,000 Palestinians, predominantly children and women, were killed and over 78,700 others were injured.

As the world celebrates Mother's Day, Gazan mothers face immense hardship and profound adversity as the war enters the seventh month.

- 37 children orphaned every day

According to a report by the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) on May 3, an average of 37 children lose their mothers every day in the Gaza Strip.

The agency said that “the war in Gaza continues to be a war on women.”

“Over 10,000 women have been killed and 19,000 injured,” it added.

It stressed that “conditions are appalling,” noting that “over 155,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women faced severely limited access to water and sanitary items.”

- No firewood

In the absence of gas, mothers scavenge for garbage to light a fire to cook.

Sabreen Abu Awda told Anadolu that she scavenges for garbage and waste daily to prepare meals, diligently searching for plastic, nylon, cardboard, and any combustible materials.

“We left our homes and took shelter in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip as a result of the attacks in the north,” said Awda.

“There is an increase in respiratory diseases due to burning plastics that are harmful to health,” she added.

Hana Abu Jabal, a mother of eight, lives in a tent in Rafah.

“We cannot find water, food and clothing,” said Jabal.

Manal al-Madhoun told Anadolu that she lost her eldest daughter and first grandchild in an Israeli attack targeting their tent in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

“They took a piece of my heart. The pain of being away from them shatters my heart,” said Madhoun.

Houria, a Palestinian mother who became widowed during the Israeli attacks on the Strip, now assumes the roles of both mother and father to her nine children.

She resides in a tent she erected in Rafah after being displaced.

Houria said that she lacks any source of income and struggles to meet basic necessities such as water and cooking gas in the tent.

To prepare food for her children, she resorts to burning scraps of paper or wood she gathers, Houria said.

- Grieving mother’s sole keepsake

Rania Abu Anza grieves the loss of her twin babies, born after 11 years of anticipation, anguish, hope and prayers.

In March, Anza lost her husband and their twin babies, Naim and Wisam, when their home in Gaza was targeted by the Israeli army.

The only keepsake the mourning mother salvaged from the rubble was their Eid clothes. She had hoped to adorn her children in these clothes for Eid al-Fitr, but they did not live to celebrate the day.

- ‘Keep them warm’

The relentless and indiscriminate Israeli assaults on Gaza expose the heart-wrenching experiences of Palestinian mothers grappling with the loss of their children.

In a video posted on social media, a Palestinian mother, mourning her children in the Al-Aqsa Hospital in March pleaded: "Please cover them with a blanket, keep them warm, please.”

The Palestinian mother, who shielded her children from the cold after they were killed in the Israeli attack, said: "I wish I were dead too, so I could go to the grave with them.”

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi​​​​​​​