Families across Gaza have been torn apart by ongoing war, leaving fathers separated from their young children, spouses stranded across borders, and engaged couples unable to marry as displacement and medical evacuations force relatives into exile.
For 43-year-old Wijdan Abu Matar, the separation began in November 2023 when she was forced to leave Gaza for Egypt with her eight children so her injured daughter could receive urgent medical treatment. Her husband, Hatem, was forced to remain behind. The family had been living in the Nuseirat refugee camp when the conflict erupted following the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Ten days later, on 17 October 2023, an Israeli strike targeted the nearby al-Muhandseen tower, injuring Wijdan and every member of her family.
“We were sitting together, just about to start lunch when the bombing happened,” Wijdan recalled. “The ceiling collapsed over our heads. Everything went dark. I couldn’t see anything. I just started screaming the names of my sons and daughters.”
The airstrike inflicted severe trauma on her children. Her 15-year-old daughter, Nour, suffered a fractured skull and brain bleeding, requiring approximately 33 days in intensive care alongside her mother. Five-year-old Amna received severe chest burns, while Amna and her three-and-a-half-year-old sister, Aysel, were treated at a separate hospital for 15 days.
On 30 November 2023, Wijdan accompanied Nour to a hospital in Egypt. Her children were initially scattered across different locations in Egypt with relatives receiving medical care. “I felt completely helpless,” Wijdan said. “There was a fire in my heart because I was away from my husband and my family was scattered.”
Although Wijdan eventually gathered her children into an Egyptian apartment, she remains separated from her husband three years later. “I have become both the mother and the father to my children,” she said. “The responsibility is exhausting me, and I am constantly worried about my husband.”
Hatem suffered a severe leg injury that heavily restricts his movement and is currently living displaced in a tent in Nuseirat. Due to damaged communication infrastructure and unreliable internet in Gaza, making contact remains difficult. “When he manages to get online, he calls me and the children. He tells me, ‘I am counting the days until I can see you again.’ I can see the tears in his eyes,” Wijdan shared.
Financial distress has compounded the family’s hardship. Wijdan relies entirely on charitable donations, while Hatem stopped receiving a salary 10 months ago and cannot work due to his disability. In Egypt, Wijdan cannot afford transportation fees to send five of her children to school. “I see my children’s future slipping away in front of me, and there is nothing I can do,” she stated.
Nour still needs ongoing care that Wijdan cannot afford. Though Wijdan sometimes considers returning to Gaza to rejoin Hatem, she fears exposing her children to renewed dangers. “I dream of getting my children the treatment they need, and I hope we can reunite with my husband as soon as possible so he can also receive treatment,” Wijdan said. “I cannot carry all of this alone. Psychologically, I am exhausted. I have lost 35 members of my family in this war.”
Since the conflict began following the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people, at least 73,783 Palestinians have been killed and 174,738 wounded, according to the health ministry. Earlier this year, an independent UN inquiry concluded that Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza.
The war has similarly shattered the lives of young couples planning their futures. Sami Abu Tabaq, a 29-year-old Palestinian photojournalist, was forced to leave the Gaza Strip in April 2024, leaving behind his family and his fiancee, Ola. “Loneliness kills me every day,” Sami said. “Life away from the woman I love and my family is incredibly hard. I’m desperately waiting for the day God brings us together again.”
Sami and Ola became engaged five months prior to the war after meeting when he selected her family’s home as a photoshoot setting. The couple spent months preparing a home to live in following a planned November 2023 wedding. However, early in the conflict, Sami and his family were forced to flee their home in Tal al-Zaatar, Jabaliya. The residence was severely damaged and later completely destroyed, along with the house the couple intended to occupy after marrying.
When Sami accompanied his sister and her children fleeing south, he was unable to reach Ola to say goodbye. Weeks passed without knowing if she was alive. Upon reading reports that a residential block near her Gaza City home had been bombed, he asked his brother to check on her. His brother eventually confirmed she and her family survived. “I almost lost my mind. I had never felt so helpless,” Sami recalled.
Sami continued working as a photojournalist in southern Gaza, where four journalists sharing his tent were later killed, including Hamza al-Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh. As Israel threatened a ground invasion of Rafah in 2024, Ola urged Sami to escape. Sami paid a coordination firm to arrange exit clearances for both of them, but Ola was unable to reach southern Gaza to cross through Rafah. “She told me, ‘You go, and I’ll follow you,’” Sami said. “And here we are, still waiting, nearly two and a half years later.”
In Egypt, Sami faced intense survivor's guilt. “The overthinking kills me,” he said. “I felt ashamed to turn on the lights or eat proper food while my fiancee and my family were struggling to find the most basic things.” He added, “There is safety in Egypt and there are beautiful places, but I stay home. Happiness has no meaning without her.”
Despite the ongoing conflict, Ola managed to complete her bachelor’s degree in nursing at the Islamic University of Gaza. She has endured immense tragedy, losing around 50 members of her extended family, including her cousin, journalist Ayat Khadoura. Ola is now applying for foreign academic scholarships in hopes of securing a path out of Gaza to reunite with Sami, who recently prayed for their reunion during a trip to Mecca for Umrah. “I will wait for her for the rest of my life, until God brings us together,” Sami said.
