rebuilding gaza;

It’s been almost two weeks since the ceasefire came into effect in Gaza City, yet I haven’t adjusted to the calm we were deprived of for so many months.

Fifteen months of war stripped me of my humanity, comfort, and freedom. I even seem to have lost my ability to cry, even though everything around me — broken homes, shattered dreams — begs for tears. My mind feels tangled, my body tense, and my heart heavy. Normalcy feels like a distant stranger I don’t know how to welcome.

I imagined that the end of the war would bring relief and freedom to walk the streets without fear. But while I now walk without the dread of airstrikes, I feel like a newcomer to the city where I was born and raised.

The scars of war are everywhere, and I can’t look away. A bombed-out house. A charred mosque. A burned-down shop. A bulldozed street. A torn and empty tent. The acrid smell of ash lingers in the air. Broken glass crunches underfoot. Everywhere I turn, rubble whispers stories of what once was. The sights echo the deafening sound of shelling that defined 470 days of war...........more.......