Heartbreak in Gaza: Sisters Desperately Seek Missing Mother After Airstrike
In Gaza City, the al-Breim sisters, Samar and Sahar, found themselves in a desperate search for their mother Amira after another devastating airstrike. Amidst the chaos, they rushed to the scene, calling out for her and digging through the rubble.
“This feels like a nightmare, like we’re trapped in a horrible dream,” sobbed Samar al-Breim as she sifted through the debris of collapsed concrete and twisted metal.
“I pray to God that I wake up and discover this was just a bad dream,” she added. “Why did this happen to us?”
Samar recounted that children were asleep at the site of the airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “The children were innocent, and they were torn to pieces,” she said.
Sahar revealed that their uncles and their families had died in the attack. She explained that she was supposed to stay at her mother’s house that night but couldn’t due to a lack of transportation.
“My mother is trapped beneath this rubble,” Sahar said, pointing to the debris. “There is no safe place left in Gaza.”
The relentless Israeli airstrikes have left thousands of Palestinians buried under the rubble, with over 36,000 reported dead, according to Gaza health authorities. The densely populated enclave has been laid to waste.
The conflict began when Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, escalating tensions and creating a crisis for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“We hope for a ceasefire because we have lost so much—our loved ones, our homes, everything,” said Sahar, continuing her call for her mother.
Despite months of negotiations, mediators have been unable to secure a permanent ceasefire. On Monday, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s primary goals in Gaza are the destruction of Hamas and the recovery of the hostages.
Samar clutched a few belongings she found in the rubble.
“They want to annihilate us,” Samar said. “But despite the pain and destruction, we will persevere, God willing, and emerge stronger.”
