Huda Ibrahim Miqdad, a 61-year-old woman, has lived her entire life in the far southwest of Rafah, in a small village known as the “Swedish Village”, just a short distance from the border with Egypt. She shared her story of hardship after the Israeli invasion in May 2024 forced her and her family to flee their home.

Huda lived in a three-story concrete house with her eight family members, including her six married sons, her grandchildren, and her daughter and her family. The day the Israeli ground invasion reached Rafah, everything changed. The family, once assured that they lived in a "safe" area, found themselves under threat of Israel’s airstrikes and artillery shelling. With no time to prepare, Huda and her family had no choice but to flee. They could not take anything with them — no clothes, no medicine, no food supplies — because they never imagined they would need to leave their home.

Huda suffers from several chronic health issues: a spinal disc problem, high blood pressure, diabetes, and severe joint pain, which requires her to eventually undergo knee replacement surgery. She also has poor eyesight and relies on a walker to move around. Despite these challenges, Huda had no choice but to join her children and grandchildren as they walked, on foot, toward Khan Younis in search of safety. The journey was brutal. Her sons did their best to support her, but despite their efforts, Huda fell and couldn’t get back up. It was only after much effort that an ambulance arrived to take her to al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis. 

When they arrived, the family found little to offer them relief. They set up a small makeshift shelter — a tent made of wood and fabric — with the help of neighbors and other displaced families. Since their arrival, Huda has been bedridden for over a month, unable to move due to exhaustion, pain, and the worsening of her health conditions. Her children assist her with basic needs, including helping her get to the modest, unprepared bathroom. But they cannot provide the necessary medical treatment for her spinal issues, nor can they afford the knee surgery she desperately needs. They barely have enough resources to manage her diabetes and blood pressure, and her condition continues to decline day by day.

Life in the tent is a daily struggle. The family faces extreme difficulty finding nutritious food, and there are no supplements available to support the health of the elderly or those suffering from chronic illness. With winter approaching, Huda’s pain only grows worse as the cold exacerbates her joint and back problems. She finds herself wondering how much longer she can endure this harsh reality.