8 April 2024 - occupied Palestinian territory

Bisan: 6 months of war in Gaza

Bisan

Bisan recording herself in Rafah, Gaza. 

In the six months of war on Gaza since the 7 October attacks on Israel by Palestinian armed groups, children and families across the Gaza Strip have faced relentless Israeli airstrikes and ground operations. Nowhere is safe and nowhere is left untouched.

{cta | Children in Gaza <span class="text-primary">have nowhere else to flee</span>. Your support is urgently needed. | https://donate.savethechildren.org/en/donate/children-crisis-donate-child-emergency-fund | Donate now  

Bisan is from Gaza and has been documenting her life and experiences throughout the last 6 months. Here is her month-by-month account of the war on Gaza.

October

Hey everyone, this is Bisan from Gaza. I’m still alive.

All of this... It was destroyed.

A child rocking chair among a rubble in Gaza

A child's rocking chair among the rubble in Gaza. Photo: Bisan / Save the Children.

November

It is now entering the second month and nothing is getting better. Everything is getting worse.

The bombing increased and increased.

The bombings have been in crowded places since the beginning of this war.

This is coming while the hospitals are suffering from the shortage in fuel and medical supplies and in the staff also.

The most important demand is to ceasefire now.

Hundreds of children, women, and innocent civilians are under the rubble, under the fire, under the bombs right now.

People are running, people are escaping to the south. There’s no food or water or clean water or anything in the north. But even the situation in the south is not safe. There is bombing in the south.

December

Many people are evacuating here, making their tents over the sand and the grounds without any food without any water, without a roof over them.

They have told me that they don’t have bathrooms here.

January

There is not enough water.

People walk long distances, waiting in lines to fill some salty water.

dirty water

Families reusing water, paying money and walking long distances to access water. Photo: Bisan / Save the Children.

February

People cannot just get back to their homes because they are in war zones and they don't have any other places to go to.

These people are now threatened by everything, like starving, dying because of the diseases, and because of the bombing as the military operations is starting now in Rafah.

Rafah is dangerous as other places in Gaza Strip. People here are very scared of the upcoming days.

March

Ramadan comes this year while people are not even in their homes, with no ceilings, with no shelter, with no kitchens, with no lovely moments with the family, with no rest.

April: 6 months of war

We’re still alive.

Yesterday and before the connections were cut off, we felt that it was cut off forever.

We don't have any internet connection, cellular connections and the electricity also was cut off. So, we're talking about darkness.

No one can know anything.

And just bombing all around us. We saw the sky lighting up, we heard the bombings, but we don't know where.

That was terrifying.

I'm afraid that they will not stop.

They're killing us.

Most of us are children and women. All of us are civilians.

Ceasefire in Gaza.

Help us.

After 6 months of war in Gaza, children have lost everything. Children have lost loved ones, lost their homes, schools, hospitals, playgrounds, childhood, hopes, and safety. It has been 6 months of war, hunger, and fear.

We need a definitive ceasefire now, unfettered humanitarian access, and accountability for violations against children.

Join us and call for a #CeasefireNow.

We stand side by side with children in the world's toughest places.