What is happening in Gaza is ‘not fair’: American survivor of Israeli airstrike

By Mustafa Habboosh

GAZA (AA) - American Deborah Darwel, who resides in the Gaza Strip said what is happening in Gaza is "not fair," and all Arabs and the world should be here to help.

“I am here because I don't want Israel to take all of Gaza and Palestine," she said after being rescued with injuries covering her body following an Israeli airstrike that targeted her apartment in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Palestinian Civil Defense teams rescued Darwel on Tuesday after her apartment was destroyed, according to witnesses who spoke to Anadolu.

Darwel, 62, who has been living in Gaza for years, after being pulled from the rubble and transferred to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told Anadolu in a statement: "Israel bombed my apartment ... and I thought I would die just because I could not breathe and I could not move."

She said she screamed in extreme pain as large chunks of rubble fell on her back and legs.

Her reason for staying in Gaza and not traveling with the rest of the American community: "Every time I try to say that if I go abroad, I'll be like a bird chirping alone," she said, indicating that she does not want to survive alone.

"I truly believe that everyone should be treated equally. You cannot leave the country you believe the Palestinians have a right to," she said. "I will never leave because if Israel is going to take all of Gaza or all of Palestine, they want everyone to leave, so I stayed because I don't want them to take Palestine.

Darwel said she now feels like a foreigner in Gaza.

"All Americans should support Gaza. Everything happening here is unjust and must stop immediately," Darwel added.

The US evacuated hundreds of its nationals from the Gaza Strip during the first two months of the current Israeli war on the enclave through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The Americans worked with international and relief institutions in Gaza or were married to Palestinians and lived in the coastal territory.

Several Palestinians holding American citizenship were injured in October in raids that targeted Gaza City at the beginning of the war.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving tens of thousands of civilian casualties, mostly children and women, as well as an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive infrastructure destruction, leading Tel Aviv to appear before the International Court of Justice on charges of "genocide."

As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, Gaza residents, especially in Gaza and northern Gaza governorates, are on the brink of famine, amid severe shortages in food, water, medicine and fuel, with 2 million Palestinians displaced from the enclave for 17 years.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul