By: Ra’ed El Nims
Rida Abou Assi (24) is a widow and head of a poverty-stricken family. When her husband passed away two years ago, she became the head of the family, caring and providing for her four little children aged between 3 and 9 in Al Zanneh neighborhood in Bani Suhayla (East of Khan Younis).
Rida never thought she would have to go through an experience even more tragic than the death of her husband. Around mid-July 2014, as she was preparing that day’s Ramadan meal for her children, Israeli bombs rained down on her neighborhood without prior notice, killing and wounding many Palestinians.
“I was filled with fear for my children. There were deafening blasts everywhere, and the children were terrified. I held them as close as I could as they screamed and cried. I did not know what to do or who to turn to as we live alone in our small house. I tried calming them down, but the bombs continued to fall, and they were filled with terror. I took them to a corner in one of the rooms and we stayed there, with my arms covering their heads, for 30 minutes”, she said.
Amidst her children’s screams and tears, Rida dialed 101 on her cellphone and reached the PRCS’ Emergency Center. She explained her predicament and asked for their help.A few minutes later, a PRCS’ ambulance arrived at her house, under heavy shelling. The PRCS EMTs helped Rida and her four children get on the ambulance, leading them away from the fumes of smoke and the smell of death.
“You wouldn’t believe how happy I was to hear the ambulance’s siren, despite my fear and despair, and how reassured I felt when the EMTs evacuated us from a house that has become so unsafe. An hour later, as we waited in a Khan Younis school together with tens of other families, I was told that my house was hit by a bomb and was reduced to rubble. This news troubled me: had we stayed in the house for another hour, that bomb would have killed us all. Thank God that PRCS got to us in time and saved our lives”, she adds.
Ever since, Rida and her children have been living in a school-turned-shelter alongside many neighbors and extended family members. They are all waiting patiently for a solution to their massive displacement.“Life here is undoubtedly extremely difficult. We left our clothes and belongings at our home, which no longer exists.
However, support and relief items provided by the PRCS, including food, mattresses and psychological support for our children help alleviate our suffering and make life a little bit easier of us until we find another house that would become our future home”, she adds.
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