* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Blog by Saaed Madhoun
My boy is only three years old. He feels stressed and depressed and last night after hearing the explosions he said to my wife, “I feel that I will die”.
He is only three-years old. It makes us so sad. It was such a terrible surprise to hear him say this, we feel very bad. He says he is feeling sick, at the noise of the explosions. He is crying at night and cannot sleep, so my wife and I try to massage him to calm him down.
My wife is very afraid for the children. She is able to feed my five-month old baby but it is stressful. We feel that there is no safe place, any movement outside and you could be targeted, if I go to my brother’s house, are we any safer there?
The water gets cut off when there is no electricity. I’m trying to keep reserves of water, we need to be able to sterilise things for the baby when we can.
I left the home to do some shopping during the ceasefire, to get some basics for my kids. We have just a short period of time before it starts again. It was very crowded in the streets because of the limited time. The prices were normal but there was not very much available.
I also went to check on the CARE office to see that it was OK. I want to go back to work to help support all of the vulnerable people, I am more than happy to do this but it is difficult because we cannot move without being targeted.
If this situation continues like now it will be a real crisis. We don’t know when it will finish. I am really hoping for a long-term ceasefire and that it will calm down.
It’s hard for my family, for my friends and colleagues, for all Gazans to live in this crisis. We just hope it will end soon. In six years there have been three wars. It’s difficult for all of us, but especially the children.
I ask the world, and all of the humanitarian community to try to make a ceasefire that will last for years not hours. We ask that the violence stops. We cannot continue living in this situation, but we also cannot leave Gaza.
We ask the world to make it stop and do their best for the people of Gaza. It is enough now.
About CARE: CARE is one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid agencies, providing assistance in nearly 70 countries. CARE has been working in Israel, West Bank and Gaza since 1948 (with a short break from 1984-1994), initially implementing programs to help immigrants after the Holocaust. Today, our programs focus on economic empowerment (including livelihoods and gender equality) in Gaza and the West Bank to assist the most vulnerable residents in meeting their basic needs. With the current fighting, CARE has temporarily suspended its programs until the security situation improves. Find out more at www.care-international.org
