"She used to worry about screen time. She used to fret over sugar. She used to dwell on what cartoon character might be the right one to put on her son's next birthday cake. I thought being a mother meant sleepless nights, picky eaters, school runs, messy rooms and too much laundry, writes the author Diana Shams. I used to think motherhood was hard. That was before the start of the conflict that destroyed Gaza."
"More than 68,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians, and entire cities reduced to rubble by Israel's offensive, which a UN inquiry found to be a genocide. During a truce in early 2025, Shams and her family returned to their home and began cleaning away rubble and repairing it. One of her friends abroad suggested she write a book about her experience as a mother. Her laptop was lost under the debris of her family home, so she wrote it on her phone."
"No one prepares you to raise children through sirens, smoke and screams. No one teaches you how to keep a child calm while the sky is falling. No one explains how to carry your baby through fire, hunger and fear and still sing to her at bedtime, she writes. The children playing at home Karim and Rose in Gaza before the war."
A 27-year-old mother returned to Gaza during a truce in early 2025 and began clearing and repairing her bombed home. More than 68,000 people were killed, mostly civilians, and entire cities were reduced to rubble; a UN inquiry found the offensive to be genocide. Her laptop lay under debris, and she used her phone to capture daily life. No preparation exists for raising children through sirens, smoke and screams or for keeping a child calm while the sky is falling. Mothers gave birth in shelters without medicine, some lost children or were killed, and many kept living to protect others.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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