Wijdan Abu Matar left the Gaza Strip in November 2023 with eight children to seek medical treatment. The mother previously resided in the Nuseirat refugee camp with her family.
Abu Matar lost 35 family members during the conflict. Her husband, Hatem Abu Matar, remained in Gaza and suffered a serious leg injury.
Hatem stopped receiving a salary 10 months ago. On 30 November 2023, Wijdan traveled to a hospital in Egypt with her daughter Nour.
Nour sustained a fractured skull and brain bleeding, while another daughter, Amna, suffered severe burns to her chest. An Israeli strike on 17 October 2023 hit the al-Muhandseen tower, following the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people. The health ministry reports that at least 73,783 Palestinians have been killed and 174,738 have been wounded.
An independent UN inquiry found Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza. Sami Abu Tabaq left the Gaza Strip in April 2024 after his home in Tal al-Zaatar, Jabaliya, was destroyed.
Sami and his fiancée, Ola, were scheduled to marry in November 2023. Four journalists who shared Sami's tent were killed, including Hamza al-Dahdouh.
Ola, who completed a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the Islamic University of Gaza, lost her cousin, journalist Ayat Khadoura, and about 50 other extended family members. Matar said, "I have become both the mother and the father to my children."
Tabaq stated, "I will wait for her for the rest of my life, until God brings us together."
