We are a very “lucky” family in this ongoing genocide in Gaza. When the Israeli occupation destroyed our house, we were not inside. We had fled before it was leveled to the ground. Others were not so lucky like us. The airstrikes happened while they were home. They were all killed.
Our building had only four stories that were destroyed, while other buildings had 10 floors. All were demolished by the Israeli airstrikes.
We are a “lucky” family, because the occupation killed only one of my brothers. It is true that they ended the lives of my uncles, my cousins, my little nieces and nephews, our brother-in-law and his parents…etc, but from my direct relatives, they “only” one sibling had been killed.
Many envy us because we were able to find his body. But imagine when! One month after he had been killed. Some are still searching for the bodies of their beloved. It “only” took me two days to get out the body of my brother from under the rubble.
We are a “lucky” family. You know why! Because the dogs could not reach him. He has been buried under huge concrete slabs. We are “lucky’ because we found his whole body untouched. No missing head, leg, or arm. It was not decomposed either as the weather was relatively cold.
We were “lucky” because we found a place to bury him. Though the four mourners who attended his funeral could not find some space in the cemetery, but they were able, at least, to open the grave of our other brother, Adel, who was martyred during the 1987 and slip the body of my recently killed one in beside him.
Thank you, brother Adel.
We are “lucky” because we fled to the south. Though we were starved and deprived of food, however, we were not, at least, obliged to eat animal feed or wild grass, like other people in northern Gaza.
We are “lucky” because we managed to get rid of the lice that attacked my daughter’s hair because of lack of water.
We are “lucky” because we killed the snake that tried to sneak into our shelter, before it bites one of us.
We are “lucky” because, up till now, nobody stopped us at night, beat us senselessly, and stole our phones and money.
Sami Abu Salem
25/01/2025
