As the tragic devastation continues to unfold in Gaza, Embrace’s Progammes and Partnerships Manager for Gaza, Rhiannon recalls the moments of joy and the incredible people that she has met on her visits to our partners there. 

The saying goes, ‘make hay while the sun shines’. My experience of visiting Gaza can be summed up in these words. I read the other day that people in Gaza count their age by the number of conflicts that they have lived through. A three year old in Gaza will have as many conflicts as years to count. But I do not visit during conflicts, I visit our partners during the calm spaces between the escalations and what I experience there, in spite of the suffering, is joy.  

Sat at the Lighthouse Restaurant on the seafront in the evening, streams of trucks and cars streak by along the road in front of you, honking horns and blaring music, engagement parties and weddings I am told. On my last visit to Gaza in July 2023, there was a heatwave, the beach thronged with families taking in the cooler morning and evening air, no one had air conditioning, there were very few hours of electricity in people’s homes. As we sipped our lemon and mint drinks the partners joked about using their fridges as extra wardrobe space.  

Earlier that day I had been sat in the office of Suhaila Tarazi, the Director General of Al Ahli Arab Hospital. As of 17 October 2023 the world knows Al Ahli as a scene of devastation and tragedy, but during my visits, during those calmer days, Al Ahli was a peaceful spot amid the hubbub of the main market in the old quarter of Gaza City.  That day, Suhaila was speaking, but broke off mid-sentence and listened. She looked at me and said, ‘This is an F16, we don’t want war’. I hadn’t even heard it, but Gazans are tuned into their skies, and that morning there had been some scuffles on the Lebanese border. Any rise in tension in Israel-Palestine is met with fear by many in Gaza - ‘we are always afraid that they will punish us’. How eery these comments feel now in light of the hundreds of innocent people, women and children, who lost their lives, just metres from where I had sat, in this war that none of them wanted. 

As I think about Suhaila and her staff now, doing everything they can to keep serving the sick and injured in Gaza, in a hospital compound that itself now bears the scars of war, I grapple to find some hope, because that is what the hospital stood and still stands for. I remember our car journey back to my hotel that hot summer evening. Crammed into the small vehicle, Suhaila in the front, the other two senior leaders of the hospital in the back with me, they sang along to an old Egyptian crooner and translated to me the lyrics. They closed their eyes and revelled in the love song, wafting their hands to dance to the intricate melody. This is how humanity endures, by losing oneself in beauty and love, and not just in the horrors and fears. 

There is so much hurt, pain, shock and terror at the moment, but we can learn from our partners in Gaza and rejoice in the good where we find it, it will help us to keep pushing back the darkness. As you see the horrors at Al Ahli and the other horrors that I am sure are still to come, know that there are good people trying to heal the sick, bind up the broken hearted and comfort those who are mourning. See their goodness and may it inspire you as you call for justice and peace.