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| My friend J. Daryl Byler, a Washington, DC. based attorney who spent years in the Middle East, just received the following texts from a Palestinian friend. Wikipedia photo |
4/21/2025
I am Amjad, a Palestinian from Gaza living in the shadow of a horrendous war, a war that has lasted 19 months. This war has already killed my father, brother and sister, and wounded my wife and our two sons.
I have had to run with them from place to place to try to protect and feed them. We have had to flee 17 times during this war, from home to home, from school to school, from tent to tent. During the ceasefire, we returned to our home in Gaza City, where we have been living in the ruins of our destroyed home.
On March 2nd, the Israelis began a total siege of Gaza, closing the border crossings to all humanitarian aid and commercial trade, blocking all food, water, fuel, electricity and other supplies from entering Gaza. Then on March 16, the Israelis ended the ceasefire with Hamas, resumed military attacks against all of Gaza. Each day our life has become more difficult.
As for food, everything is very, very expensive. Flour is no longer available in the market and the black market is extremely expensive. Even vegetables are very expensive. If the border crossing is not opened In a few days, we will completely run out of food. During the siege my children are becoming malnourished.
My wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl the day before the Israelis ended the ceasefire, and a few days ago, the Israelis bombed the last hospital in Gaza City. Now my wife and my new daughter need medical and nutritional assistance that is no longer available, and I am powerless to help them.
My brother, the Israelis are bombing everywhere. There is no fighting with Hamas, but the Israelis are bombing everywhere, including the hospitals which have now all been destroyed. If anyone is injured, there are no medical equipment or supplies to deal with the wounds, so their arm or leg must be amputated to save their lives.
We are all under constant threat and fear. I worry that I will have a heart attack just from the anxiety. My children are terrified and wet themselves when the bombing gets close. They are afraid to sleep at night. We all sleep together, and when the bombing is too close to one side of the house, I gather them all up and carry them to the other side of our destroyed house.
Gaza is now unlivable. If the world powers cannot break the siege of food and water, and stop the Israeli genocide in Gaza, then they have a responsibility to get the people of Gaza get out so that we can receive the medical and nutritional assistance that we need. We have learned that the Red Cross and the World Health Organization have helped some Gazans leave for medical assistance.
My wife and two sons are all suffering from shrapnel wounds from an Israeli tank shell that hit the school room in which we were sheltering in November 2023, and now, we are all now malnourished because of the 36 day siege. Please stop this war and end the occupation, but if you cannot, at least help my family and all Gazan people to leave and find safety.
4/22/2025
Yesterday there was a huge explosion that shook the whole area. The children were terrified, started screaming and ran to hid in my arms as the shrapnel fell on our house. The situation is terrifying. I can’t breathe. . . I discovered that the World Health Organization will try to get my family out of Gaza. I hope to escape death in Gaza.
And now they are bombing again!! Huge bombing.
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