Khan Younis – SABA:
Anwar Bsaisa, a modest merchant in his 40s from Khan Younis, never imagined that venturing out to seek food aid for his children would alter his life forever.
On May 27, amidst thousands of desperate Palestinians gathered at aid distribution points west of Rafah, it was his only chance to feed his family under the crushing siege.
But at those sites—controlled by Israeli occupation forces and their snipers—queues for food quickly turn into killing zones.
As Anwar lay on the ground, sudden gunfire broke out. He rushed to help a wounded youth nearby, only to be shot in the back himself. The bullet pierced his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
According to the Palestinian Information Center, Anwar now lies in Nasser Hospital, immobile and dependent, while his family struggles to survive in a makeshift tent after losing their breadwinner and protector.
“He didn’t want to go,” says his grief-stricken wife. “But he couldn’t watch his children starve. He came back to us paralyzed and broken, now needing care instead of providing it.”
Anwar’s story is just one among thousands in Gaza, where the search for aid has become a life-or-death gamble, amid an inhumane distribution system controlled by Israeli forces, denying civilians their most basic rights.