Memories strike without warning, through a scent, a sound, or a single word. What she longs for most is the quiet beauty of everyday life she once knew.
For the children of Gaza and their families who found refuge in Qatar, hope keeps them going. They are safe and have shelter, but in their hearts, Gaza is still alive. The streets, the laughter, the familiar faces… all waiting to welcome them back, at least in their memories.
“Perhaps not soon, perhaps it will take time, but I am certain that Gaza will open its arms to us one day, and we will return, even if everything has changed,” says Shareehan Alloh, a Palestinian mother of three, trying to make sense of the last two years that have changed her life completely.
Al Thumama Complex in Doha is now home for Shareehan and her children, Ameer, Mayar, and Shereen. They managed to escape Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza, which began exactly two years ago, on October 7, 2023.
Physically in Doha, her heart still roams the streets of Gaza. Shareehan says that she replays October 6th endlessly in her mind. “It was an ordinary Friday, but now it is engraved in my memory as the last peaceful day of my life,” she recalls.
Morning routines, familiar voices, laughter, the smell of coffee… all ordinary moments she never expected to lose.
The next morning, everything changed. October 7 arrived with Israel’s bombs and explosions. “From that moment, questions ran through my mind, turning everything upside down. Every strike felt like it’s our turn now”.
The past two years have been filled with loss and grief she can hardly put into words.
“I witnessed things I can never forget”
“I lost many loved ones, my aunt, who was like a mother to me, along with her entire family, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law’s daughter and her child, who was like my own son, and cousins.”
Shareehan remembers witnessing things she will never forget.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 67,139 people, including 19,424 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks, with 80% estimated to be civilians.
Tens of thousands more have been injured. International agencies warn the actual death toll is likely even higher.
The war brought days of hunger, fear, and grief. Families were torn apart, displaced, and trapped in what Shareehan calls “prisoners in our own country.” “I cannot forget the hunger I and my children endured in the south, when I was with my mother-in-law’s injured daughter,” she recalls.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has rated Gaza at Phase 5, the highest level of famine, characterized by starvation, destitution, and death.
More than 500,000 people are living under these conditions.
“I live for my children, but my heart remains there, among the rubbles…”
Today, two years later, her home does not lack food nor safety. But memories of leaving Gaza are starving her peace…. “That day was the hardest, to leave my homeland, my family, and my husband, and be forced to go abroad to save myself and my children,” she says.
She tries to embrace a new life, learning new way of living, but memories of her family and home in Gaza linger, keeping her awake in the quiet hours. “Every night before I sleep, I think about my family and husband. There is no food, no communication, and every day, the massacres worsen before the world’s eyes.”
Memories strike without warning, through a scent, a sound, or a single word. What she longs for most is the quiet beauty of everyday life she once knew. “I miss simple life. I think of my neighbours and then… I remember, most of them are now martyrs….”
She lives for her children, she says, but her heart remains among the rubbles of her home with the hope that somehow, she will return to Gaza. “Sometimes I feel that everything in me is waiting for that moment of return,” she says. “The moment I can touch its soil again, see my house even if it is destroyed, embrace my family, and hear the sounds of my Gaza.”
The orphans of Gaza: “My mother and father were martyred right in front of our eyes”
Shareehan’s story is mirrored in the lives of thousands of children like 18-year-old Basan, who arrived in Qatar with her 14-year-old brother after losing both parents.
She is among roughly 39,000 newly orphaned children since the war began.
“I remember October 6, 2023, clearly. My family and I were outside, enjoying, laughing and trying to make the most of a normal day,” Basan says. “We had no idea that our lives were about to change forever the next day.”
Basan and her brother were evacuated on October 22 after their home was destroyed. “My mother and father were martyred in front of my eyes, and I was injured. Leaving my family behind was unbearable. I have one more brother in Gaza, I am missing him every day.”
Now safe in Qatar, Basan faces a new reality of grief and survival.
While she is trying to rebuild her life, very often her body gives up on her. Rebuilding life is a reminder that the old one doesn’t exist anymore. And it is a painful reality: “Every day reminds me of what I have lost, and how drastically life has changed. Life here is not easy. “
Her heart is heavy with the memories of her beloved parents.
Hope, as little as it is, however, persists. Aware of the reality and what Israel’s bombs did to Gaza, she still hopes for return. “But I also know that the situation may not allow it soon, so I live with hope and patience.”
“Gaza will always remain the land of Palestine, the land of figs and olives”
The International Organization for Migration reports that 90% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, leaving 1.9 million people internally displaced.
Two years after the war began, the wounds, both seen and unseen, are still raw.
Families are torn apart, cities lie in rubble, and survivors carry the heavy weight of loss every day.
For Palestinians like Shareehan and Basan, being alive is not enough. Their hearts remain in a home they cannot return to, and the longing never fades.
“I have made the greatest concession in life, to live a life I do not choose, but it is God’s will and decree,” Shareehan reflects. “Gaza will always remain the land of Palestine, the land of figs and olives. Every day, I live with the hope that one day, we will return. Until then, we survive, and we remember.”
For the children of Gaza and their families who found refuge in Qatar, hope keeps them going. They are safe and have shelter, but in their hearts, Gaza is still alive, the streets, the laughter, the familiar faces, all waiting to welcome them back, at least in their memory.
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