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After a week of unrelenting Israeli bombardment and with a ground offensive looming, Alaa was forced to leave her home in northern Gaza and head south with her two-year old twins Kinan and Kinda and her three-month-old son Yaman.
“It is a new Nakba for all of us,” Alaa, an English language teacher who did not want to reveal her surname, told The National of the heart-wrenching journey she made on Saturday.
“All my family left their homes including all possessions, and memories. I left my wedding photos that I had wanted one day to share with my daughter. I left the earrings my mother had given her. We left our souls back there.”
The house where she grew up and her own apartment where she “put all her life savings” from working as a teacher for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was badly damaged in bombings.
Hundreds and thousands of Gaza residents have been forced to move south after Israel gave "evacuation orders" to 1.1 million civilians, which is reminiscent of what Palestinians call Nakba - the Arabic word for catastrophe - to describe their mass exodus in 1948 after Israel was formed.
Alaa says she has moved to a building in Deir Al Balah where her in-laws stay.
"We are here together with my neighbour's family consisting ten people. Also my parents, my five month pregnant sister and her family too. We are all 21 people using a very old, small bathroom and a very small kitchen with minimal supplies.”
“This is not the first time we have been subjected to Israeli bombs. Nor the second, third or fourth. I have grown up accustomed to Israeli air strikes and killings. But this is the worst I have experienced.”
Alaa said it pained her to see that her children lose their little joys. “My kids love to watch their favourite cartoon ‘Masha and the Bear’ on YouTube on our smart TV. They are suddenly deprived of all the things they love. We have been robbed of our boring but normal routine.”
Cruel occupation
She said it was her birthday on Saturday and instead of celebrating with a cake and gifts, she along with thousands had to flee for safety. "My husband told me he was going to surprise me with a new smartphone on my birthday,” she said.
She cannot but “wonder every day and every minute” why people in the world do not sympathise with Palestinians like they have with the Ukrainians, who have suffered from Russian aggression.
“We have been fighting this cruel occupation which tried to steal our land for over 75 years.”
She says her story of personal loss and shattered dreams echoed that of thousands of Gazans who had lost everything in the Israeli attacks, but they were not mere statistics.
"I hate that people see us as numbers," she says. "More than 2,000 people killed in Gaza. We are humans. We have lives like you. We love. We hate. We are educated and smart."
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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if you go
The five pillars of Islam
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
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The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
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The specs
Engine: 4 liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous electric motors placed at each wheel
Battery: Rimac 120kWh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power: 1877bhp
Torque: 2300Nm
Price: Dh7,500,00
On sale: Now
Read more from Kareem Shaheen
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The Disaster Artist
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
