She is grinning in the center of the photo. Her smile is vanished now. At the end of September 2023, at a birthday celebration, this picture was taken a little over a year ago. Only a few days before everything changed.
The seven women were all employed as nurses at Gaza City’s al Shifa Hospital, which is both the largest medical facility in Gaza and a location that Israel believes to be home to a Hamas command center. Al Shifa was attacked as soon as the war broke out.
There are two deceased women in the picture.
On November 11, Rawan Abu Zbeidah, shown second from the left with a black headband, and her family members were slain. She carried a child. Third from the right, Anwaar Yassin, together with her husband and kids, perished at the beginning of December in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
The other women in the picture have all moved and scattered.
It was a lovely day the last time we were all together, Dunya recalls. “It was exquisite. one week before October 7th. We had no idea that would be our last. Our memories and the photos we have of each other are now all that remain. Our lives have abruptly ended.
