"It is six o'clock in the morning on Saturday 7 October 2023. Half awake, I call out in a hoarse voice to my two sisters who are sleeping on their beds next to me: Enas, Remas, wake up you have school. We were not to know it yet, but this was the day when everything would change. The day when horrific events across the border in Israel would lead to a war that became a gateway to hell itself."
"I went back to sleep, not caring much whether my sisters woke up or not. My university classes started a little later at eight in the morning. Then suddenly came the sound of rockets firing. I could not tell if I was still dreaming. But soon my sisters and I were wide awake, and at first we told ourselves they were test rockets and would fall into the sea, so we didn't care much, until the sound grew so loud it was impossible to ignore."
"Rumours started spreading maybe one of Hamas's top leaders was assassinated, maybe Hamas was attacking Israel, but everyone was guessing. Not comprehending what was happening, we waited for any confirmed piece of news. My uncle and his family came, still in their sleepwear and extremely agitated, since they live near the Israeli border. They were in a state of terror, their clothes messy, the interrupted sleep and their panicked departure visible on their faces."
It was six o'clock on Saturday 7 October 2023 when I woke my sisters. Rockets began firing, growing so loud that we realized they were not tests. Rumours circulated about Hamas attacking Israel and about possible assassinations of leaders, while social media showed Hamas storming into Israel and taking people back to Gaza. Israeli forces responded with heavy bombing in all directions, causing windows to tremble, ambulances to wail, aircraft to roar, and children to cry. My uncle and his family fled in sleepwear, visibly terrified. We instinctively began packing belongings, unused to such sudden escalation despite familiarity with past wars.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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