Motherhood in Gaza Looks Like Caregiving Even When There's Nothing Left to Give

"In Gaza, motherhood does not exist separately from fear. It unfolds inside it - even now, during what is called a ceasefire. I think about this when I speak to my mother from a distance. I try to picture her day as she shares it with me, and the parts of it she doesn't. The effort it must take to keep going - to care, to cook, to reassure, while carrying a weight of exhaustion - is hard to describe."

"My mother is 41. In another life away from wars, she could sound young, but through my eyes I only see her with everything she has to hold together through the war. War in Gaza has reshaped motherhood, pushing it beyond routine into something more constant, more urgent. Care is no longer just part of the day - it becomes something that cannot be set aside, even when there is nothing left to give."

"It is a quieter side of the war, happening between mothers and their children. Four months have passed since I left Gaza and my entire family. I go through my daily routine here in Italy, while constantly imagining theirs and trying to picture how my mother and family move through their days now."

"I am constantly making comparisons between everything in my life and theirs, and I am doing it unintentionally. And in that comparison, my life, in a way I never wanted, feels easier, softer, happier, and less stressful than theirs. I see mothers with their children here - playing in parks, shopping together, walking safely through ordinary streets. It makes me happy to witness it, and at the same time, it reminds me of what my"

Motherhood in Gaza is experienced as something that unfolds inside fear rather than separately from it. A mother’s daily life is shaped by war, requiring continuous effort to care for children, cook, reassure them, and carry exhaustion. Routine parenting is replaced by urgency because care cannot be set aside even when there is nothing left to give. The war creates a quieter, intimate struggle between mothers and their children. Distance from family intensifies the emotional burden, as imagining a mother’s day and comparing safer life abroad with life in Gaza highlights how much harder daily survival and parenting have become.

Read at Truthout