Gaza Mother Battles to Survive Amid Ongoing War

GAZA CITY:  Two years after Israel’s war on Gaza began, 31-year-old Lamis Dib lives each day as a fight for survival. Displaced 11 times since October 2023, she now cares for her two young children alone after losing her husband and father in an airstrike.

“October 6, 2023, was the last normal day,” Dib recalled. “I had a happy family.” That happiness ended when Israeli bombardments struck her neighborhood in Gaza City. Since then, she and her children have faced constant displacement, hunger, and fear.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 66,000 Palestinians — most of them civilians — have been killed. The UN calls it one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with homes, schools, and hospitals destroyed, and millions left homeless.

Dib described life in Rafah, where 30 people shared one room with no toilets: “It was confinement, airstrikes, hunger, thirst, and no privacy.” Her worst moment came in August 2024 at Nuseirat refugee camp, when her husband and father were killed instantly in an airstrike.

Now living in a tent in Al-Zawayda, Dib struggles to provide food and safety for her children. “All is hard. My friends can go to their fathers or husbands, but not me,” she said.

Israel eased its blockade in May 2025, but aid agencies say supplies remain far below what is needed. UNICEF warns nearly all Gaza’s children need psychological support.

Despite everything, Dib holds onto hope. “We’ll go back to our house. We will re-build it, but we just want a little peace,” she said, as her children carry water in jerrycans — their childhood marked by war.