‘Don’t Come to Gaza, One Of Us Should Live’: Kin Tells Palestinian Man in Delhi

Fahad (name changed to protect identity), who was recently awarded a PhD degree by a New Delhi university, was all set to leave India mid-October to return home to Gaza City. He hoped to find a job and stay close to his family.

But a call from his uncle at around 10 am on Saturday, 7 October, changed his life in a flash.

Gaza City, a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, is now under Israel’s ‘complete siege’ with no food, water or electricity after a ‘surprise’ attack by militant group Hamas on Israel on Saturday, 7 October, intensified the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Over 1,600 people have been killed so far, including 900 Israelis and nearly 770 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

The 30-something PhD graduate last spoke to his family on 9 October, when they pleaded with him not to return home.

“Don’t come back to Gaza. If we die, let at least someone from our family survive,” his mother told him over the phone.