Osama and Mahmoud, a father and a son, held tight on their family home in Jabaliya. The Israeli death machine, however, was relentless. Leaving their house, years of memories, and a treasured sewing machine behind, the two decided to escape. This is their story.
“When I first approached the checkpoint, an Israeli soldier yelled at me, grabbed my hat, and threw it to the ground,” Mahmoud, 24, recounted the harrowing moment of his forced displacement from Jabaliya. “I stayed calm. I had to stay calm, knowing any reaction could endanger my life.”
After over 50 days of relentless bombardment, Mahmoud and his father, Osama, finally left their home in Jabaliya. From the beginning, Osama believed the Israeli military’s ultimate goal was to empty northern Gaza.
“He knew we would never be able to come back,” Mahmoud said. “And he refused to make it easy for them.”
Despite his conviction to stay, Osama prioritized his family’s safety.
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On October 7, 2024, just two days after the attack began, he urged his wife, two young sons, and elderly daughter with her three children to flee to western Gaza City.
Mahmoud, his eldest son, chose to stay behind. “I agreed with my younger brother that he would go with my mother, and I would stay with my father to support him,” Mahmoud explained.
As their fourth-floor apartment was unsafe, the pair moved to Mahmoud’s grandmother’s abandoned ground-floor apartment, hoping for better protection. Safety, however, remained out of reach.
Bombs fell incessantly, artillery thundered, and stepping outside meant risking death by sniper or quadcopter fire. Supplies dwindled. “We rationed what little food and water we had,” Mahmoud said.
Weeks later, Israeli tanks rolled into their neighborhood, forcing them to flee.
“We moved to another area in Jabaliya, escaping tanks and enduring constant bombings,” Mahmoud recalled.
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Days later, they had to evacuate again, spending a night in the open cold without blankets, unsure of where to go. “Those days were the hardest of my life,” Mahmoud said. “I would fall asleep wondering if I’d wake up alive.”
Eventually, they had no choice but to leave Jabaliya altogether. “We left everything behind—our home, our belongings, and most painfully, my father’s sewing machines, which were our livelihood,” Mahmoud said.
At the checkpoint, chaos and humiliation greeted them. Soldiers ordered men to strip completely for searches, while women underwent less invasive inspections. “I stood in line with 300 men, naked, holding up my ID,” Mahmoud said.
For six hours, they stood in the cold, surrounded by tanks and choked by dust. Water was scarce, with 20 liters shared among 300 people. “They destroyed our homes, and now they were stripping us of our humanity,” Mahmoud said.
Some detainees were arbitrarily beaten or arrested, while others were allowed to leave with nothing—not even clothes.
“At that moment, I thought, ‘This is the end,’” Mahmoud said. But he and his father were among the few who passed through. “Walking away felt like being born again,” Mahmoud reflected.
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Abu Mohammed’s Uncertain Fate
Not everyone shared Mahmoud’s fortune. Among those detained was Abu Mohammed, a 60-year-old tailor.
For weeks, his wife, Umm Mohammed, and their family stayed in their home near Kamal Adwan Hospital, refusing to leave. “Where could we go?,” Umm Mohammed wondered. “Everywhere in Gaza is unsafe.”
But as the attacks escalated, their survival outweighed their fear. Almost two months after the attack, on a bitter December morning, Umm Mohammed, her two younger sons, Mahmoud and Ahmed, her daughter Malak, and her daughter-in-law Aya, with her toddler, fled their home.
Their eldest son, Mohammed, stayed behind. A machine technician at Kamal Adwan Hospital, Mohammed felt obligated to care for the wounded. “I can’t leave,” he told his family. They parted in tears, uncertain if they would meet again.
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At the checkpoint, Umm Mohammed watched helplessly as the men were separated from the women. She and the girls passed through but spent hours waiting anxiously for her husband and sons.
Eventually, Mahmoud and Ahmed arrived at their temporary shelter in Gaza City, but Abu Mohammed did not. “I didn’t know whether to smile because my sons were safe or cry because my husband was taken,” she said.
Three weeks have passed, and Abu Mohammed remains detained. “He has no political ties,” Umm Mohammed insisted. “He’s spent his life sewing to support us.”
Abu Mohammed is one of dozens—if not hundreds—of men detained arbitrarily. Despite the uncertainty, Umm Mohammed clings to hope. “I still pray that tomorrow, I’ll wake up to hear him knocking on the door,” she said.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Noor Alyacoubi is a Gaza-based writer. She studied English language and literature at al-Azhar university in Gaza City. She is part of the Gaza-based writers’ collective We Are Not Numbers. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
