Women’s Voices: Untold Stories from Gaza’s War

Nada Shawky
Predict
Published in
5 min readDec 23, 2023

Birth Without Anesthetic

Have you imagined the pain of childbirth without anesthesia? For women in Gaza, this is a horrific reality. Hospitals lack even basic supplies due to the blockade. A mother recently gave birth, feeling every excruciating moment without relief. Doctors perform surgeries on children with no anesthetics. The suffering is unimaginable.

Surviving Periods and Pregnancy

Sanitary supplies, food, and clean water are scarce commodities under siege. Women struggle just to meet basic needs during their periods. Expecting mothers suffer malnutrition, putting babies at high risk. Each day brings new hardships no one should endure.

Trauma Beyond Measure

Thousands flee bombardment, seeking refuge that does not exist. Sleep is a faraway luxury as families move hourly to elude bombs. Children bear unthinkable injuries with no beds or medicine. Witnessing such horrors leaves scars on the soul of an entire community.

A Plea From Gaza

Here's my friend's message from Gaza:

"We are dying from bombings from the air, sea, and land. We are dying of hunger and thirst. They bombed drinking water stations, bakeries, and markets. We are dying of grief and oppression for those we lose every day... The 70th day of the fierce war on Gaza and the complete siege, without electricity, water, or internet, with a death toll of 26.000 martyrs. And more than 52,000 wounded.

Help us... Save us... Help us... I assure you, we are still alive, but our hearts are broken, and we are no longer able to live.

- Askar Samah"

Maryam Qosh - A Poet from Gaza

Our friends in Gaza say food is almost gone. They say, "Day 75 of the war. We still live without electricity, internet, or even clean water. We barely get food, and no aid has arrived yet. We cannot save any money because banks and offices have been closed since the end of the truce. Prayers for us. Help us so we can live. Maybe the war will end, and life will return to how it was."

Their calls for freedom and peace may not be heard without our voices joining theirs.

A study by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reveals a catastrophe in Gaza due to the siege of hills and the lack of aid coming from the Rafah crossing, where more than 71% of the population of the Gaza Strip suffers from severe cases of hunger, and 98% of the participants feel that there is a lack of food.

What You Can Do to Help

Raise awareness on social media to spread their message far and wide. Follow reporters within Gaza to share firsthand accounts. Contact representatives demanding political action. Support organizations delivering aid by donating funds. Commit to boycott companies profiting from occupation through BDS. Together, through compassion and action, we can apply pressure to end this humanitarian crisis. Every step you take in solidarity could help save lives.

As you read this article, journalists report a dire situation in the northern Gaza Strip. Occupied by Israeli soldiers, this area is heavily fortified, with UNRWA schools housing tens of thousands of displaced women and children. Yet, at this very moment, the Israeli army is firing upon anyone who dares to set foot in the schoolyard. Thousands of children and women are trapped there, deprived of water for two agonizing days. It is an unspeakable catastrophe, one that demands an immediate end to this genocide. Every passing minute without action costs innocent lives—men, women, children, and infants who are lost without any fault of their own.

Now is the Time for Action

Congress rushing to break by combining militarizing the Southern border with sending $14 billion more in weapons to Israel. Tell them no.

The first step would be the withdrawal of American support for Israel’s crimes. Tell the people you vote for to do this now.

We need to tell our leaders to change what they do. Make them take away the support for Israel. Do it fast.

Learn more or get involved:

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights https://uscpr.org/

Jewish Voice for Peace https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org

If Not Now https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/

If Americans Knew https://ifamericansknew.org/

TELL CONGRESS TO STOP WEAPONS NOW, INVEST IN LIFE! CEASEFIRENOW:

Contact Congress 202–225–3121, the Senate 202–224–3121, and the White House 202–456–1111 to demand a ceasefire in Gaza now.

How will history judge those who witnessed yet did nothing? The choice, dear friends, is ours.

Conclusion

They suffer when they can't find water, just as you would.

They hurt when they can't find food, just as you would.

They suffer to have their homes demolished and displaced, just as you might.

They suffer when bombs amputate their limbs, just as you would.

They suffer when death takes away the souls of their loved ones wholesale, just as you might.

In fact, they suffer more than you because they are aware of being completely alone in the face of extreme injustice.

Have you imagined yourself in circumstances similar to theirs? What would you do, and how would you feel?

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Nada Shawky
Predict

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