Transcript from “Talk to Gaza” webinar, 19th April 2025
There were 37 people on the call. From Gaza were Dr Said, Dr Omar, Alaa, Ahmed G (Manager of PTC team in Gaza), Mahmoud, Samar and Eman. Niveen joined from Istanbul.
Updates from the team:
Alaa: One of my daughters sustained burns queuing for food (hot food fell on her) and another daughter broke her hand (due to all the pushing). They are both now doing okay.
Mahmoud (who works for the Days of Joy team): Israel bombed my house. 19 family members were killed, some survived but were badly injured including me. I was badly burned and have scarring and still feel pain. I have just started being able to walk better.
Dr Omar: The situation is very critical. It has been one month since the ceasefire was broken, and day and night there are airstrikes and bombardments. It is heavier than the start of the war. There was a bombardment in the night and by the time of the call, 40 people had already been declared dead. There is nowhere safe in Gaza. People are feeling frustrated with the lack of food, water, everything. All checkpoints are closed. No food or drugs are getting in. People are starving. Many are dependent on organisations cooking food but they are lacking food so kitchens are closing. Healthcare is critical; no drugs or medicine is coming from outside. Those suffering from chronic illnesses can’t get their medication. There is no hope from the news; people watch the news trying to find something positive. Innocent civilians are paying the price. People are tired; enough, enough, enough. Those of us working in mental health are suffering the same conditions. Vaccinations for rickets and polio: children are getting their first shot but then there is not enough for children to have their second. Israel won’t allow OCHA to bring vaccinations from outside. Diseases are spreading. Immunity is going down to due to the lack of food. There is overcrowding in hospitals as so many are out of service. I lost 15 members of my family in two different airstrikes whilst they were sleeping. There are many orphans, many children without any surviving family, many husbands and wives that have lost their partners. It is a daily tragedy. We are not just numbers. We are not 60,000 killed. We are 60,000 stories. We are all suffering. We want to help but can’t help at all. It is all out of control.
Dr Said: My mum died last week. People are queuing in long lines for a little food. There is no basic food in the markets. Everything is so expensive and beyond the affordability for many. Children are asking: for what we suffer? When will our suffering end? No home is empty of sad feelings. We can’t do anything. We pray, we hope for a ceasefire soon. We hope we can continue our work providing mental health services for our clients. MH specialists are suffering the same conditions as our clients, but we are trying to be strong, have hope, give people techniques to help them to change their view of the situation. We can’t change the situation, but we can help the minds and the thinking – how to deal with the situation. We try to do that. “Hard” is not enough to describe the situation in Gaza.
Niveen: I evacuated in early 2024. My body is in Istanbul and my soul is in Gaza. I am constantly checking thew news. I have some family still in Gaza. The war is worse than before. There is a severe lack of food.
Jenny M, Chair of Jewish Voice for Labour (which now has nothing to do with Labour but is keeping the name) raised her hand and David thanked her for attending and invited her to speak. She asked a question about contact with Americans and said, “I talk to my fellow Jews and we feel ill. The evil of Trump and Netanyahu is unbearable.”
Dr Omar confirmed a lot of Palestinians have contact with Americans, especially the university students who show good support and solidarity.
Dr Said: I appreciate hearing this message. Everyday we ask, do people see us as humans? As people like them? People can’t imagine our daily suffering. Everything has gone back 100 years. We lose in a second everything that we spent many years building. Here in north Gaza, there was an explosion last night as Dr Omar said. As of now more than 40 people have been killed as a result. People see us as animals. Israel’s leaders see us as animals saying, “we deal with them as animals”.
Samar: I am a psychologist with PTC. Life is very difficult, tragic. There is a lack of food, huge suffering, hunger. I lost my house. We dream to sleep without fear. We fear waking up to a massacre. Children say to one another “death is better than this life”. Parts of my family’s dead bodies were returned to me in sacks. These are humans! Imagine your family brought to you in one sack.
Ahmed G (manager of the team in Gaza): During the break in ceasefire we had a tiny recovery, but the situation is worse than before. There is no gas or electricity so we have to dry wood for fuel. We wait hour by hour for the sound of the truck bringing water. Bakeries and shops have been destroyed. Only vegetables are left from small farms – lots of farms have been destroyed. What there is, is little and expensive. We are waiting for death to come to us. We lose hope in our lives. The only spot of light is the activities the team is able to do, to be useful; it is good for us and our children. These meetings with you are useful. You can take our news and spread our voice. Our voice can be heard. We hope the world will stop this horror. We are waiting.
Eman (her internet connection was not strong, so Niveen posted a translated message in the chat on Eman’s behalf):
Thank you all so much for your support, for listening to us, and for caring about Gaza and the genocide happening here. I want to speak, just like my colleagues did, about the suffering that every person in Gaza is going through — from the difficulty of accessing the internet, electricity, water, and even sending a simple message. I used to go to work and come back at set times, and everything I needed was available. Now, I wait anxiously for the water truck to come so I can get drinking water. I also wait for the neighborhood well to open so I can stand in another long line to fill water for daily use — because there is no one to share these responsibilities with me. My husband is a person with disabilities, so I have to be both the man and the woman of the house. On top of that, I must take care of my children, gather firewood, and cook over an open flame. The hardest part now is that I’m displaced from my home in the Shuja'iyya area and couldn’t bring most of our possessions. It's enough to break my heart just hearing my little daughter recall the day she once ate meat or fruit — or my son, who is about to turn two and doesn’t even know what fruit, meat, or even an egg — which helps build his body — looks like.
--
At this point, participants from the UK then shared updates and messages of support – from Wandsworth, St Albans, Norwich, the North and East Herts Palestine Solidarity Campaign (the latest e-action for the 1 May elections was shared). David urged therapists in the UK to check out the UK Palestine Mental Health Network and Palestine House for meetings.
Dr Mohamed urged us to spread the word, to boycott Israeli products and companies supporting Israel’s genocide (e.g. McDonalds). In response to a distressed UK participant, he urged us not to burn out inside and reminded us that Gaza needs us not to burn out. Justice will take time, but we need to keep up the pressure on our politicians.
Dr Said concluded by reflecting on a recent conversation with children in a camp in north Gaza: I asked them what are their wishes and hopes? I imagined they would say something about the future, about having a good life. I was shocked when most of them said “we hope we can get clean water, meat, maqluba (Palestinian meal)”. I was shocked with that answer. This is all impossible. It is too hard to get those wishes for the children. Please share this message.
