04 January 2009
The moment we all feared has come – ground troops are in Gaza. For the first time I was forced to hide in the basement of our house as there are no shelters or bunkers to take refuge from the bombing or shelling. With seven members of my family, the youngest, Majd, being seven months-old, we spent the night listening to explosions.
The bombardment was relentless. Some of the explosions were near our home and were causing Majd to cry. Our house was rocked by a nearby explosion – it was terrifying.
This is worse than the aerial bombing – everything feels so close. The night was very cold and we spent it listening to the radio to see if we could find out what was going on. We knew what was happening; that now the fighting would be on the streets of Gaza. This was what we were hoping would not happen. Everyone selected a corner in the basement to sit in – we knew it was going to be a long night.
I woke up at 7:10am - exhausted and suffering from a headache, like most people I had barely slept. Outside there was silence – maybe everything had stopped? But almost immediately I heard an air strike and realised that the nightmare wasn't over.
Islamic Relief had planned to deliver some aid today but the situation on the streets of Gaza was just too dangerous. Instead we made preparations for the delivery of aid to hospitals. Our emergency manager was at the Al Shifa Hospital, he told us many of the injured were being taken there.
It is very dangerous now to be out in the streets. With each passing night the dangers in Gaza increase and so does the humanitarian crisis. Electricity is not available in Gaza and people are using generators.
Even in the Islamic Relief office we have to leave early in order to save fuel for the generators for the coming days.
On Monday we plan to distribute aid to the hospitals – I, like the rest of Gaza – hope it will be safe to do so.