"We've lost our childhood" -- Gaza's children share heartbreaking life experiences of war
GAZA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Kamal Mahdi, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy displaced in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, recalls "a beautiful life" before the war in Gaza -- attending school, meeting classmates, and playing with friends. But everything changed after Oct. 7, 2023. "My father used to work and make money to keep us afloat, and we had healthy food, water, and all the necessities for living," Mahdi told Xinhua. "Suddenly, without any prior notice, we were forced to live under a war that turned our lives upside down," he said, recalling how his six-member family was forced to flee Israeli airstrikes. After leaving their home in Gaza City to seek shelter in the southern Gaza Strip, Mahdi said, "Every day, we face death amid the Israeli attacks everywhere." What's worse, clean food and water have become luxuries. The nearest water station is miles away. Mahdi has to walk long distances just to fill a bucket with salty water for his family. "We have no other choice," he said. Like Mahdi, Sabrin Radi, a displaced girl in Deir al-Balah, has to walk long distances with her five siblings to fetch bread, some canned food, and water. "I miss the delicious and healthy food and water, and I miss my whole life that I lived before the war," Radi said. "It is too hard to lose everything and lose our human rights as children." Having been displaced 15 times in the year, the 12-year-old girl said, "All the time, I feel like I escape from death to an unknown fate, and we will never return to our old life again. I am afraid of losing my life." Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive on Gaza in response to a Hamas rampage that killed around 1,200 people in Israel and led to 250 individuals being taken hostage. As of Tuesday, the Israeli army has killed 43,972 Palestinians and wounded 104,008 others, according to figures released by the Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza. "Gaza is the real-world embodiment of hell on earth for its one million children. And it's getting worse, day-by-day, as we see the horrific impact of the daily airstrikes and military operations on Palestinian children," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said in October. "A year ago, the cruel choice for civilians was: endure deprivation or flee into displacement. Today, deprivation grips all of Gaza. Being displaced, again, only leads to more suffering and ever worse conditions for children," Elder added. "We have the right to live, play, eat, learn, and enjoy life like other children around the world. We have become older than our ages and lost our childhood because of the war," said Adam Seif, a displaced child in Deir al-Balah. 
