It's Ruba from Gaza

Today is the 13th of January and I know it’s been a while since I last communicated with you. I feel like there is nothing new to say - the same terrible difficult things keep happening over and over again. There are still bombings and explosions around us everywhere. Rafah is becoming extremely crowded. As each day passes more people come here. The ongoing attacks on the middle area of Gaza, on Al Nusairat, Al Maghazi and Al Bureij make it really hard for people to continue living there and they are still fleeing to Rafah. The original population of Rafah was around 280,000 people but now there are about 1.8 million people here . When I first came here it was easy to bump into other people who had come from Gaza City and the middle part of the Gaza Strip, but now since it’s so crowded you hardly ever see anyone you know. Now when I need to go out I keep my head down and just try and quickly finish up whatever I need to do and then head straight back home. This is firstly because of th...

Today is November 22 which marks day 46 of the war. The title of this post sounds sad, and I have to warn you that it is. For the last couple of days in Rafah, the drones, also known in Gaza as the zanana have been flying over our heads. The sound is so close that it feels like they’ll end up in your lap. Finally yesterday I started to feel a little positive about the news that a truce will start soon. I started thinking about every corner of my home and how damaged it could be and what I can do about it. Last night before I went to sleep I had finalized the plan in my head. I would have to wait for a couple of hours so that the drivers on the road could let us know which roads to use. My 79-year-old father cannot climb up the piles of sand blocking the road and we need to take that into account. My brother is young and if we come across any soldiers we should be able to protect him.  The doorman who looks after our building has not been responding to phone calls and messages and w...

Today is the 21st of November and it’s Day 46 of the war. Since it started we have heard different types of weapons and bombs once, twice, thrice, four, five, six, ten, eleven or one hundred times a day. On some days we only hear one or two types of weapons but these have a much stronger impact than the other types which we hear more often.  In spite of this people continue to live their daily lives in Gaza. They wake up hearing the sound of bombs but they also wake up with the same thoughts that any normal person would have on their mind – things like ‘How are we going to get milk for our babies? How are we going to cook for our children? How are we going to make sure they have at least one proper meal today?’ If they manage to secure their basic needs then there is a sense of relief. This is what I want to discuss in my blog today.  Empty shelves in the supermarket in Rafah Even before discussing how we get our basic services I want to explain what I mean by basic services o...

Today is the 19th of November which marks day 44 of the war. I’d like to express the different conflicting emotions that I’ve been having during all these days since the start of this conflict. When we first had to flee from our home in Gaza City we went to stay at my sister’s house and I didn’t feel so impacted by the displacement because my sister and I are so close and we understand each other so well - we know the things we like and don’t like. I also had my privacy…but now that we’ve all had to flee from Gaza City to Rafah it’s so different. We now feel like refugees as we are living in an environment with different social traditions and we have had to adapt to new customs. Since the war on Gaza started, we cannot sleep with the doors and windows closed simply because if you do the air pressure from the bombardment will smash the glass and will take the doors out from their place. So we sleep with them all open. Since it’s winter now it’s really cold, especially at night. We are f...

Today is the 17th of November - the 42nd day of the war on Gaza. I’ve decided to start writing a diary about what we face on a daily basis in our lives as people who have been forced to flee from our homes. A lot of people don’t understand what it means not to have electricity, water or access to the internet. Today I’m going to talk about what it’s like not having access to running water. I have to warn you though that there are some details that are disgusting and are hard to speak about because they’re so dehumanizing.  Imagine waking up in the morning and you want to start your day with the normal routine of any human being on earth - by washing your face, brushing your teeth, going to the toilet and washing your hands. Here in Gaza in order to do that we have to make sure we have collected water the day before for all of that. This is what we do.  In Rafah, where I’m now staying as I had to flee from my home in Gaza city, we have a mosque near us which has a well. The mos...