You might already know that Israel is attacking Gaza, destroying buildings, and displacing people from one place to another. This much is clear, but do you truly understand the unimaginable pain amidst this chaos?

Imagine you are a parent, and you’ve been told to leave your home and relocate. In the middle of this turmoil, your children go missing in the chaos. Or perhaps you step out for something urgent, and suddenly, an airstrike occurs. When you return, your home is empty—your family is either missing or their fate is unknown. Or consider this: the Israeli army conducts a ground operation, taking your family members away, leaving you with no idea of where they are or what has happened to them.

This is the grim reality for countless families in Gaza today. There are thousands of families, children, and women are missing today in Gaza. Since the war began, approximately 45,000 people have lost their lives, which includes 14,500 children, and the number of wounded is beyond count. On top of this, an estimated 17,000 children are still missing, separated, or have been abducted.

The Chaotic Situation in Gaza

Since October 2023, when the war in Gaza began, the situation has become unbearably difficult for many families. War, forced displacement, hunger, and the lack of basic necessities have shattered lives. But what weighs heaviest on people’s hearts is the agony of missing loved ones. Every passing moment feels like a lifetime as families cling to hope, wondering if their missing children and relatives are alive—or if they have already become another statistic of this relentless conflict.

The large-scale displacements have led to countless children and family members going missing. When the Israeli army launched its ground operations, Gaza was divided into two parts—Northern Gaza and Southern Gaza. Residents of the north were ordered to leave their homes and move south, with promises that Northern Gaza would be “cleared.” 

Amid this chaos, entire families fled in desperation. In the confusion, many children and loved ones became separated and lost. Some vanished while families scrambled for shelter during airstrikes; others were torn apart in the rush to escape. Many of these families have never been reunited.

When the airstrikes finally ceased, hospitals began to fill with the wounded while rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble. What they uncovered was devastating—injuries were so severe that the victims were impossible to identify. The bodies piled up in morgues, and families were left searching through the remains, unable to tell if their loved ones were among the dead or still missing. Closure, even in the form of grief, was denied to many.

Reports reveal even darker realities. Those who couldn’t escape Northern Gaza—trapped by circumstances or unable to flee—were reportedly executed by Israeli forces. Others were taken captive and abducted to secret locations, leaving their families with no answers, no updates, and no hope.

The Missing Children

The most heart-wrenching part of this missing turmoil is the disappearance of children. According to reports, 70% of the deaths in Gaza so far are children and women, and an estimated 17,000 children are still missing. 

This staggering figure isn’t coincidental—there’s a biological reason behind it. Children have half the resilience of adults, making them far more vulnerable. When trapped under rubble, caught in the chaos of airstrikes, or abandoned in the rush to flee, their fragile bodies and minds often cannot endure.

Another report states that the Israeli army has dropped 75,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, equivalent to six nuclear bombs. In such catastrophic conditions, it’s not difficult to imagine the fate of these missing children.

Their current plight likely falls into one of four devastating scenarios:

1. Mass Graves: Many of these children may have perished and been buried in mass graves. When dealing with mass casualties, it becomes almost impossible to identify bodies. Sometimes, only a small part of a child’s body—like a hand or a foot—may be found, leaving families with no answers about their loved ones.
2. Trapped Under Rubble: Aid workers in Gaza work tirelessly to clear rubble after every airstrike. All too often, they uncover the lifeless bodies of children still buried beneath the debris.
3. Detained or Abducted: Reports suggest that approximately 9,000+ people have been detained by the Israeli army, including many children. These children’s whereabouts and conditions are unknown. Those who are eventually released often bear severe injuries, broken bones, or unimaginable trauma.
4. Alive but Unreachable: Some children may still be alive but unable to reunite with their families. They could be too young to know their parents’ names or so deeply traumatized that they cannot speak or move.

For parents, the thought of their missing children enduring any of these fates is unbearable. The question looms over their hearts day and night: What has happened to my child? In Gaza, there are no answers—only pain, silence, and the haunting emptiness of loss.

As you read this article, you’re probably sitting comfortably on a sofa, bed, or chair connected to the internet through your phone or laptop. Life likely flows as per your routine—you’ll scroll through this piece, learn about Gaza’s current situation, and then return to your work and daily life.

Right?

Maybe the citizens of Gaza dream of the same—returning to their jobs, reuniting with their displaced families, and living a normal life again. But sadly, that feels impossible right now. The reality of Gaza, especially after October 7, 2023, is a burden too heavy to imagine.

For over 14 months now, the people of Gaza have endured genocide—unimaginable pain and suffering. In life, sorrow may visit, but it usually passes with time. For the people of Gaza, however, this pain seems never-ending, a wound that refuses to heal.

In these 14 months, they’ve watched their homes, workplaces, families, and even their sense of self crumble into nothing. For them, airstrikes, violence, and hunger have become part of life—a haunting new normal.

They’ve lost their houses, their livelihoods, and their loved ones to relentless Israeli airstrikes. Now, it feels as if the people of Gaza are just waiting—waiting for life to end as hope slips further and further away.

The Daily Life in Gaza

To be honest, understanding the current situation in Gaza requires nerves of steel. Only those who can endure immense emotional pain can truly process what’s happening there. Today, Gaza has nothing left but rubble. The thought of having a roof over their heads is probably something its people have long forgotten.

Right now, the people of Gaza are forced to seek shelter wherever they can—whether it’s in overcrowded schools, flimsy tents, or makeshift homes made of mud by the sea. Even in these places, there is no peace. Every moment is filled with fear and dread, wondering when death will rain down from the skies again.

There are no basic facilities—no hygiene, no proper bathrooms, and no beds to sleep on. According to reports, 1.9 million people—90% of Gaza’s population—are displaced, with many forced to flee multiple times. Just imagine their lives: constantly on the move, carrying whatever little they have, searching for safety while holding their families close.

Many families are sleeping in the cold, on the bare ground, without any roof over their heads. In some places in the world, people sleep on the streets but not might be starving, but in Gaza, hunger is everywhere. For nearly four months now, humanitarian aid has been blocked, and the result is devastating—hunger has taken over.

Women, children, and entire families stand in long lines as early as 6 a.m. just to get food. Sometimes, what little food arrives is looted, and many return home empty-handed. Imagine that—standing all day for a piece of bread, only to go hungry again.

The Israeli army has destroyed over 700 water wells and wiped out entire farms. Farmers who try to grow food are arrested, and markets where people attempt to buy anything are targeted with airstrikes. For the people of Gaza, there’s no escape. Death surrounds them from all sides.

Children no longer wake up and go to school. Instead, they join food lines, hoping to ease their hunger. Women don’t have access to basic hygiene products—forget about sanitary pads; they don’t even have proper clothing.

Every day, more than 150 women give birth in Gaza, but there is no proper medical care for them. Many mothers die due to the lack of assistance, and their newborns suffer from severe malnutrition, with many unable to survive.

For the men of Gaza, each day is a fight for survival. They wake up wondering how they’ll provide for their families, where they’ll find food, and how they’ll keep everyone safe. They can’t work; there are no jobs and no opportunities. 

Yet, they carry the weight of protecting their families, ensuring their children stay healthy, caring for their wives, and somehow finding a way to keep going.

Every single person in Gaza—men, women, children—is facing unimaginable pain. Each one is struggling to survive, battling challenges that seem insurmountable. And yet, they endure because they have no other choice.

Palestinians Live Matters

The world has taken the suffering of Gaza’s people so lightly that it’s as if their lives don’t matter at all. Every day, on average, 10-12 people in Gaza are killed by the Israeli army as if their existence is disposable. On December 22 alone, eight civilians lost their lives—inside a hospital—where they were being treated for their wounds.

To Israel, it seems these lives hold no value. Strikes can happen anywhere, anytime—on anyone. And what’s even more heartbreaking is that the world is merely watching. There are no actions, no sanctions, and no efforts to stop this relentless violence. Worse still, powerful nations like the U.S. are fueling this genocide by providing weapons to Israel, becoming accomplices in this unimaginable tragedy.

It’s time for the world to wake up. Fourteen months of unimaginable suffering have passed, and now, someone must take a stand. A ceasefire is not just necessary—it’s urgent because the lives of Gaza’s people matter just as much as the lives of anyone else.

Gaza’s cries can no longer be ignored. Their pain, their loss, their humanity—it all matters. And the world must act before it’s too late.

“Promise we will rebuild it.”

This is what the children and youth of Gaza carve onto the walls of their destroyed schools, homes, and buildings. They cling to the hope that the war will end and a day of peace will come, allowing them to rebuild what was lost. Their hope remains unshaken, and rightly so—they will rise again.

But what has brought them to this devastating situation? What mental state has pushed them to think this way, especially the children? Imagine their condition, witnessing everything shattered before their eyes—their schools, their childhood, their friends, their families, and so much more.

 The current state of children in Gaza is so harrowing that even putting it into words feels overwhelming. Just type “Gaza children” into Google, and the results are heartbreaking, declaring that Gaza has turned into a graveyard for its children.

Stories emerge of two-year-olds, five-year-olds, and entire families lost, while some never even got the chance to be born. The situation is so dire that countless children are left homeless, hungry, and forced to survive on the sands by the sea, with no shelter and no relief in sight.

On top of that, as temperatures continue to drop, they don’t even have spare clothes to change into, let alone warm clothing. How can they possibly endure the freezing cold and the icy sea breeze without any protection? For the children of Gaza, the only thing they have to sleep on or cover themselves with is the cold, harsh sand.

Sand, Starvation, and Suffering

Currently, 95% of Gaza’s population is facing starvation—an almost unimaginable crisis not caused by any natural disaster but by human actions. First, airstrikes destroyed families in Gaza, reduced homes to rubble, and left people homeless, forcing them to sleep under open skies. Now, humanitarian aid is being blocked at borders, deliberately creating a state of famine.

The situation is so dire that when displaced, hungry Palestinians receive flour, they rush to grab it in desperation. Even the flour spilled on the ground during the chaos is picked up by children and carefully gathered into bags to take home.

Even when these displaced children manage to bring home some flour, many times the strong waves of the sea wash it away, as Gaza’s civilians, living on the bare ground, struggle to protect their meager food from the elements. The little flour they manage to salvage often becomes wet and unusable.

Each day is a relentless fight for survival. Children, driven by hunger, wander through the ruins, searching for anything edible.

They search through rubble, stand in long queues for aid that may never arrive, and walk for miles with empty stomachs, hoping to find scraps of food to keep themselves and their families alive. For them, survival has become a daily battle against hunger, despair, and an unyielding sense of loss.

Tonight, many of us will sleep on comfortable beds, wrapped in blankets, with our heads resting on pillows. But the innocent children of Gaza, who have no connection to this war and have committed no crime, are forced to sleep on the streets or unprotected sand.

You might think, “Many people sleep on the streets in other countries, too, don’t they?” But the situation here is different. In other places, even the poorest who sleep on the streets can access drinking water and food to survive.

If they fall sick, government hospitals provide them with medicine and treatment. If they contract a contagious disease, they can still receive care. But what is the reality in Gaza today? There’s no water, food, hospitals, ambulances, and doctors available to provide even basic treatment. This is the harsh truth they face every single day.

Gaza in Numbers

The Israeli army has destroyed over 700 water wells, leaving Gaza in a dire water crisis. Across the region, each person now has access to only 1.5 to 1.8 liters (51 to 61 ounces) of water per day—barely enough to survive. Meanwhile, over 1.7 million people have been infected with contagious diseases due to unsanitary living conditions and the lack of clean water.

The relentless attacks have not spared Gaza’s healthcare system. Continuous bombardments have destroyed over 600 hospitals, leaving the sick and injured with nowhere to turn. 

The situation is worsened by the devastating loss of medical personnel—at least 986 healthcare workers have been killed, including 165 doctors, 260 nurses, 184 health associates, 76 pharmacists, and 300 management and support staff.

Stats source

Thousands of children in Gaza are trapped in a state of mental shock and fear. They live with constant questions weighing on their young minds: Will I see tomorrow’s sunrise? Will there be food to eat tomorrow? Will I have to stand in long lines again just to get a small piece of bread? Can I even play today?

At an age when they should be playing and laughing, they are forced to witness destruction and endure unimaginable suffering. They don’t know how long this war will continue, what more horrors they’ll have to see, or how many more days they’ll have to sleep under clouds of smoke, on cold sand, and beneath the open sky. Even their innocent hearts carry the heavy burden of uncertainty and fear.