19-year-old Ms. Somaya Suhail Saad Al-Sweirki, a resident of Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza City, recounts a heart breaking experience of death several times under the Israeli gunfire and missiles.
On December 2nd, 2023, at 11:30 PM, just one day after the truce ended, Israeli occupation aircraft launched a missile at Somaya’s house without any prior warning. The family was gathering themselves and sleeping around each other near the apartment door, thinking it was the safest place in their home, but that was exactly where the missile landed.
Instantly, her siblings Tala, 12, Saad, 18, and Mohammed, 5, were immediately murdered. Her father fell from the sixth floor to the first, while her and her mother remained injured on the sixth floor. Somaya’s right leg was quickly severed due to the sudden bombing and she fell immediately to the floor, sitting motionless among pools of blood.
At around six in the morning, people rushed to the house to rescue whomever spent the night under the rubble. They managed to take Somaya’s father out, yet the other were besieged in the house as an Israeli quadcopter started firing heavily at people trying to get the rest out. When they laid Somaya on a mattress; her leg was almost severed at the knee, and the other leg also sustained shrapnel.
Hours passed after they told her they would send an ambulance to rescue her, but more than other couple of hours passed without having the ambulance around. Somaya later learned that the Israeli occupation had bombed the ambulance while en route to her.
She had nothing to do but to stay with her injured mother in their targeted apartment untill a breakthrough occur. During this course of waiting, and with every minute passes, a huge wave of despair filled Somaya’s heart wishing to join her martyred siblings.
Somaya and her mother talked a little as the elderly was in pain whenever she spoke, and the scene of being both occupied with bleeding wounds hampered their ability to produce an utter.
“We had no water or food. I only ate a lollipop. After seven days, on December 8, 2023, I saw a fly on my mother’s face and told her to brush it off, but she didn’t respond. I repeated, but she still didn’t reply. Her breathing grew louder until it stopped, and she too was martyred. I screamed at the top of my lungs out of anguish and broke down in tears,” Somaya added.
Somaya’s didn’t know exactly when her mother passed away as she had no clocks. On the same day at night, Israeli occupation aircraft bombed the building again with three missiles. The building was split in half from the previous bombing, and the missiles fell into the gap. Somaya was on the right side, watching everything.
“I wasn’t afraid; I was numb, wanting only to die and join my family.”
The next morning, an Israeli quadcopter approached the house as Somaya was laying on her mattress inside the house. She pretended to be dead to avoid being shot by the quadcopter. That day, ahe was very thirsty, so she prayed to God for rain. Miraculously, it started to rain, but she couldn’t reach the water. Then she prayed for the rain to come inside, and soon, water began seeping through the ceiling, soaking the mattress.
“I wrung it out and drank until I was somewhat quenched.”
Somaya said she stayed for about 12 days without closing her eyes at all, and didn’t know why.
“I wished to sleep one day, so I told myself I needed to be strong to return to the mattress. I was tired of sitting on the rubble. My right leg dangled from the knee whenever I tried to move, and I couldn’t lift it with the other leg as it was also injured and bleeding. I tied it with a sock, which reduced the bleeding somewhat.”
After five days, Somaya became thirsty again and started shouting, “I want water!” Alas, tanks were stationed under the building, and a soldier called out on a loudspeaker, “Who is shouting for water?”
“I was terrified and didn’t respond. I then drank a bottle of medicine that was near me, not knowing what it was, but I was in desperate need of water.”
Spending her time alone near her mother’s body, without food or water, “by God’s grace, I remained alive, though I was exhausted and my weight dropped significantly.”
After 21 days of being besieged and the killing of her family, on December 21, 2023, Somaya’s neighbors came to rescue her. As soon as they started to pull her out, the Israeli quadcopter started firing again. She told them to leave her water and go, that she could survive, but they refused and insisted on saving her.
After some time, the drone left, and they tied her to the mattress, struggling to lower her as the stairs were destroyed.
“I was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, where I reunited with my injured father. I managed to undergo surgery on January 9, 2024, and now I am waiting for a humanitarian truce to travel and treat my other leg.”
Despite losing her family and enduring unimaginable suffering, Somaya said she still love her country and will not leave it.
“I will survive this war and provide psychological support to my people as much as I can. I am in my second year of studying psychology,” she concluded.
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