I rode away on a camel with my grandmother, along a sandy road, and I started to cry. Ayish Younis is describing the worst moment of his life – he still regards it as such, even though it was 77 years ago, and he's lived through many horrors since.
It was 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war was raging, and Ayish was 12. He and his whole extended family were fleeing their homes in the village of Barbara - famed for its grapes, wheat, corn, and barley - in what had been British-ruled Palestine.
We were scared for our lives, Ayish says. On our own, we had no means to fight the Jews, so we all started to leave.
The camel took Ayish and his grandmother seven miles south from Barbara, to an area held by Egypt that would become known as the Gaza Strip. It was just 25 miles long and a few miles wide, and had just become occupied by Egyptian forces.
Today, aged 89, Ayish is again living in a tent in Al-Mawasi near Khan Younis. In May last year, he was forced to leave his home in Rafah after an evacuation order from the Israeli military. The destruction that followed left him without a roof over his head once again.
After we left Barbara and lived in a tent, we eventually succeeded in building a house. But now, the situation is more than a catastrophe. I don't know what the future holds, and whether we will ever be able to rebuild our house again, Ayish states.
This latest chapter of destruction raises serious doubts about Gaza's potential for recovery. Though a ceasefire was recently reached between Israel and Hamas, Ayish remains skeptical, saying, I don't believe Gaza has any future. He hopes to return to his hometown of Barbara one day, despite it no longer existing.
Ayish’s family, including his sons and numerous grandchildren, have been deeply affected by the conflict, losing their home and bearing witness to a humanitarian crisis. The extent of their devastation reflects a cycle of destruction that has repeated throughout years of conflict. And now, as the world watches and hopes for peace, Ayish's dreams lie within an uncertain reality.
