Naser Hakoura

My name is Naser Hakoura, from Gaza.
I am writing my story while I am at the peak of sadness and pain – a state of loss that I cannot express in words. My family of five left Gaza a month before the war began to send our children, Ghattas (20) and Tala (19) to study at the American University in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We spent a beautiful and memorable time together in Jordan, where we accompanied our children before they started their studies, but we quickly returned to Gaza to continue our lives. We did not know that that would be our last farewell before the devastating war began.
On 3 October 2023, after returning to Gaza, I was forced to leave my family and head to Istanbul with my son Ghattas for a business trip, to provide a better future for my family. But since that moment, we have been separated. My wife and my youngest daughter Talin (16) are still in Gaza, suffering from hunger, fear and terror. I can do nothing but wait for the opportunity that might allow me to reunite my family and children who live in a state of anxiety and tension, far from their mother and younger sister.
The situation has become unbearable. My wife lives with my daughter, her elderly sick parents, her sister and her sister’s husband, who requires surgical treatment. She cannot bear to leave them and go alone. She does not know what the coming days will hold for them on a trip out of the church. I am full of hope as the head of a family in this bad situation, and they all have visas to come to Australia. The family consists of 13 people in a small room in the Holy Family Church in northern Gaza, lacking the most basic necessities of life. We lost everything we owned because of the war, and we cannot overcome this difficult and harsh ordeal.
We are now living in Australia with my wife’s relatives. We are suffering from extremely harsh financial and psychological conditions, and we do not have any source of income. We lost everything we owned in Gaza – all we have left are our memories. We live waiting for my wife to be able to reunite our family in a safe place filled with peace and reassurance. We are in dire need of being together. We are going through difficult times, and every moment that passes while we are away from each other increases the pain of separation and breaks our hearts.
Nothing is equal to the cruelty of separation and dispersion of the family, and nothing comforts the pain of absence. I wish I could be there with them, comfort them, reassure them, and protect them from all danger. In a state of separation, we cry in silence, and our hearts are torn from the intensity of longing and yearning. We live each day waiting for a meeting that may never come, and all we wish for is safety and to live in peace, far from the harshness of war.
Naser Hakoura