A 76-year-old Palestinian grandmother in Gaza is living in the back of a pickup truck after being displaced from her home in Beit Lahia, offering a stark account of how years of war have transformed everyday life for civilians.
Mansoura Ibrahim Mohammed Abdel Dayem fled northern Gaza with her family and has moved from place to place. With the family’s tents overcrowded, damaged and exposed to heat, insects and sand, she now sleeps on a mattress inside the truck.
Her daily routine involves cleaning the truck, preparing small amounts of food and washing clothes by hand. For lunch, she eats bread with a simple salad made from basil, garlic and tomato grown by her family. She says seeing plants reminds her of her former life as a farmer, when she cultivated land and raised livestock.
Mansoura keeps the key to her former home in a leather bag. She says the house, trees, well and animal pen were destroyed after the family fled. She also keeps a bullet removed from her son’s back after he was shot while seeking flour to feed his children.
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