“I thought I survived… but every day I was losing another part of myself.”
These are the words of Fatima Abu Hajar as she recalls the moment her life changed completely, after her son Majd was injured in Rafah when a remnant of an Israeli explosive detonated in his hands, something he had thought was just a toy.
In that moment, she could think of nothing but reaching him. Holding him. Reassuring him. But when she arrived, his body was completely wrapped in bandages.
“Before I saw him, I asked them: is his face okay? That’s all I cared about.”
Before the war, Fatima lived a quiet life in Rafah, working as an Arabic teacher and taking care of her children, their studies, and the small details of their everyday life. Then came displacement to the tents of Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, where she and her husband lost their jobs and she began making sweets and drinks just to keep the family going.
Majd was always part of that life. He helped her every day, standing by her side in everything.
“He was my capital during the war.”
Then, in a single moment, everything changed.
Burns covered 45% of his body and face, and doctors told her his chances of survival were very low, amid the collapse of the healthcare system and the lack of medical supplies.
“I did everything I could to get him out of Gaza so he could live.”
After weeks of fear and waiting, Fatima managed to reach Jordan with Majd and her other son Hadi, while her husband and another child remained in Gaza. There, a long treatment journey began, during which Majd underwent more than 45 surgeries before gradually learning to stand and walk again.
But even with survival, the war did not end for Fatima.
“Majd became very sensitive… we try to make him forget, but he’s still a child who sees himself as different from all other children. A war child that the war burned into his body.”
Even outside Gaza, the war still follows them in other ways.
“The first time I heard thunder in Jordan, I thought the war had started again.”
And despite everything, Fatima still holds on to one idea: returning to Gaza, no matter what shape life there takes.
“I want to go back even if it’s just a tent… I just want to return to Gaza, with my son, my husband, and a healthy Majd.”
