Today, I am returning from Deir al-Balah to what remained from Gaza City. I carry on my back what is left of my life, a tent, two mattresses, two pillows, two blankets, some kitchen utensils, some clothes beneath the rubble and one book from the Encyclopedia of Civilization, rescued by my grandson Abdul-Karim from my library. The latter once had more than five thousand books. I no longer miss anything from the features of modern civilization. No house to return to, no electricity, no refrigerator, no washing machine, no gas, no bed, no carpet.
I feel as if we are returning to the origin of things, before invention, before comfort; to those days when humans were stripped of everything except patience. This is what remained after the house turned into a memory and we, who survived, became witnesses to nothingness. Yet, amid the ruins, a small seed still resists. Perhaps it will grow one day and say, “Gaza is still here”. May God grant us strength.
Abdel Karim Ashour
19/12/2025
(Translated by the team of Palestinian Stories)
