FIRST PERSON
Gaza diary: ‘We sleep in the same room so if we die, we die together’
The author, a Palestinian journalist working for The Times and The Sunday Times, describes her daily life during the conflict
Amal Helles in Gaza. Her husband also works as a journalist in the territory
Today, at five in the morning, instead of waking up to the sound of birds, I wake up to bombing in my neighbourhood.
My seven-year-old daughter, Maryam, is frightened by the sound of the warplanes. She sleeps between me and her father. My son, Wajj, does not leave my arms.
My house is in a building with two floors. The first floor is full of about 20 displaced families who have sought safety here. The second floor is ours, and some of my family members have moved in too, after they had to flee their homes. My children, my husband and I sleep in a room next to each other, so that if we die, we die together. This is how we console each other