The suffering of Gaza in the words of a Palestinian student

A speech by: Miss Dina Hijjo

Studying  in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

Indian People in Solidarity with Palestine

New Delhi 08/03 /2016

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I got admission in Jamia Millia Islamia to study masters on the scholarship from Indian government, and the Indian council in west bank called me to send my passport to stamp visa. From here I had to make my way to do this seemingly impossible work. It was war and was culminating. Everything was in tatters. No homes to live, no food to eat. During war everything was annihilated by Israeli forces and people had to migrate to safer places in order to save their lives. I was no different. But I was surviving with one and only one hope to get out of Gaza to pursue higher education.

I was waiting for ceasefire so that I can go out and at the same time Indian council was calling again and again to send the passport otherwise I will lose my scholarship , I was requesting them just to wait because of the war since there was no means to send my passport. I got only one week time to send it. I asked my friends to help me in sending my documents and one of my friends suggested me a way but said it is possible only during ceasefire.

After some days a temporary ceasefire was announced and gave me a glimmer of hope to hand my passport to someone who is going out of Gaza for treatment. I found someone and gave him my passport. He was receiving treatment in Nablus. The passport had to be delivered to Indian council from there. My friend in Ramallah arranged this for me. Somehow the passport reached at its destination.

Now I needed to get back the passport and it was not easy at all. The patient who took my passport had to leave as his permission to stay out was expiring. But the Indian council took more time in stamping visa.

Unfortunately, the man came back from west bank to Gaza. For me it seemed like I would not get my passport back. I started looking for the patients coming back to Gaza from west bank. I got in touch with one but he was scheduled to leave after 10 days and I had no time to wait so I asked him to help me to find another patient who can do this work. finally, I got one patient and he brought back my passport to Gaza.

Now I had to wait for the ceasefire again so that I can go out to take the passport Even as my dad had not accepted yet .My family were dubious and were not easily convinced because of several reasons ranging from war to India not being safe. Intensity of war was increasing day by day and people were leaving their homes to take shelters to some other place, but there was no place which was left unrocketed by the Israeli forces in Gaza. We stayed in our homes with fear and hopelessness .Many times death was at our doorstep. But I don’t know how we evaded that. Our lives were hanging, crawling and trying to take last gasp. After few days of massacre ceasefire was announced again and gave me the chance to collect my passport .I got my passport back and I came back home.

And then came the night which I can never forget in my life. it was around midnight and we were sleeping. My dad was sleeping in the second part of the house and everything was quiet suddenly a missile hit a tower close to our house and created hue and cry everywhere in the area. my dad felt the tremors and wasn’t able to speak for some hours. Our neighbors asked us to leave the house but we had no place to go so we refused to go out of the house considering that if we will die then at least it will be our home where we will be buried.

Next morning Israeli forces announced to completely destroy the Gaza. My dad was frightened by last night’s attack ,so when he heard this he asked me to leave Gaza immediately and asked me to come back with my degree after two years. He said either you will find us alive or we will be dead but at least u will save our family’s name. He collapsed while he was trying to hold his emotions.

But my mother asked me to wait till ceasefire is announced because if I would go in wartime Israeli forces would drop missiles on any moving object like car or any person.

I waited for the ceasefire and my dad gave me instructions to leave the moment the ceasefire is announced.

I was following the news and waiting for any news on ceasefire and I came to know that next day it would be ceasefire from 10am to 4pm. But it wasn’t enough time to go out so I decided to stay back and not go out on that day.

On the day of ceasefire they bombed my neighbor’s house around 10 am .It was terrible experience. Everything was destroyed within fraction of seconds. my mother, father and sister were holding each other in fear and were shivering .I ran upstairs to check the safety of my brothers and sisters in laws. My nephew Oday who is just 5 years old saw the missiles coming towards him. He was injured and gets scared when he sees blood and missiles. My sister who was making tea and sandwich for my mother saw missiles and tried to run away but she barely survived the aftermath. She was broken both mentally and emotionally .My mother and father were not able to speak.my mother wasn’t able to walk because of feeling the shock waves of the missile. I was in shock too. We saw the death passing before our eyes.

After few days it was announced that war would finish by 7pm on a certain day and people were requested to stay in home till 7pm.Next day I left for border, leaving my parents with a hope of my return.

My mother was not able to speak still she cried too much for me and my dad said don’t worry by the time u come back war will still be going on because they have announced long ceasefire but they can break it anytime. And who knows maybe they will come after two months or maybe two years. I consoled my dad and left Gaza with a hope to follow my dreams. Even those deadliest rockets were not able to shake my determination and assertiveness. I love my country and would fight for its independence till my last breath as a responsible citizen. With a hope to achieve best in my career, I still stand firm with pride and dignity when it comes to supporting Palestine. With the expectations that this story will be appreciated I hope that more and more people will join hands in supporting Palestine for its freedom.