"We dread nightfall": Voices from Gaza

Stories of living and working under bombardment and siege in Gaza.

Leila Rafei

January 2 2024, 2:23pm

November 13, 2025

Part of his childhood will always carry the scars of what happened

Mohammad Al Hawajri, MSF operating theater nurse

"Just when we thought we had endured the worst, the genocide brought new terror to our doorstep: On June 27, 2025, an airstrike hit the street beside our home. Our youngest son, Omar, was standing by the door when a piece of shrapnel tore through his leg. He was only 5, already weakened by months of fear and hunger. In Gaza, he underwent several surgeries in unbearable conditions, amid starvation and soaring prices of food and medicine that we could no longer afford or access under the Israeli siege.

Six weeks later, our colleagues managed to transfer us to MSF’s reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan.…