Enclave’s war widows deal with grief while struggling to feed and protect their children
Nariman Dalool, a 28-year-old widow, found herself having to take care of her four young children alone after her husband was killed trying to obtain flour for their family.
Originally from Gaza city, she and her family have fled to Rafah to avoid the fighting as the war rages on.
“Everything is hard,” Ms Dalool told The National. “I was dependent on my husband, he was my security and did everything for me. Suddenly, I found myself alone, taking care of four children. I don’t know how to manage it.”
An Israeli sniper shot him dead while he was carrying the flour, accompanied by his eight-year-old son.
“My eldest son has nightmares about his father’s death in front of him,” Ms Dalool said.
“Who will care for him and help him heal? He is the one I used to rely on, even though he’s young. But what can I do?” She left Gaza the day after her husband’s death and headed for Rafah, on the border with Egypt, to protect her children.
Although her family offer some financial support, she is struggling to make ends meet.
“How will Ramadan be without him? He used to provide everything for his children,” she said. “Now the kids ask me to buy them things but I can’t because I have no money.”
More than 3,000 women have been widowed since the war broke out in Gaza, the UN said in January. At least 10,000 children are estimated to have lost their fathers.
Ghada Abu Laban, 29, was widowed a month ago. She now lives at a UN-run school in Rafah with her four children.
“I lost my soul, my everything,” Ms Abu Laban told The National. “I am only living for my kids, otherwise I don’t want to continue living.”
She received the news of her husband’s death while she was in Rafah, having been separated from him when he decided to stay in Gaza city to protect their family home.
“I am struggling here by myself. I need to feed my kids,” she said. “My daughter keeps asking me for money to buy chocolate or chips but I don’t have the money to give her.” Ms Abu Laban’s husband Mohammed was the sole breadwinner, and now the family rely on aid provided by the school.
“I haven’t received any aid for two weeks and when I go to inquire about aid, they tell me there is nothing,” she said.
Shurooq Abbas, 26, lost her husband and infant son when their home was hit by an Israeli air strike.
“We were four and now we are only two,” she said.
She left Gaza city with her daughter and moved south to Khan Younis, where they took refuge at a UN-run school.
Her daughter is traumatised, she said, and often calls out for her father and brother at night, having gone to bed hungry.
“[Israel] destroyed my home and all my memories,” she said. “I am homeless, with nothing to hold on to as a keepsake of my husband.”