A YOUNG girl from Gaza’s chilling wish-list for when the war ends has been shared by her father.
Wassem Mushtaha’s family is one of many being driven into ever smaller corners of Gaza in search of refuge as Israel’s offensive continues.
More than 20,900 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed so far during the conflict, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
And while families across the UK tuck into festive leftovers and contemplate this year’s Christmas present haul, Habiba – Wassem’s daughter – has a more simple wishlist for when the war eventually ends.
READ MORE: Harrowing audio from Gaza as civilians call for ceasefire
The diary entry (pictured above) – which was first written in October – is chilling.
While one of the young girl’s wishes is for “all the toys I want”, the rest – as her father puts it – shows the “impact” the war is having.
Within her to-do list are many things we take for granted – to take a “hot shower”, go back home “safely” and walk by the sea.
Chillingly, one of Habiba’s wishes – “eat all the things I’ve drawn” – is written alongside pictures of a chicken, a burger and a pair of eggs.
A report by the UN and other agencies warned last week that more than half a million people in Gaza are starving due to “woefully insufficient” quantities of food entering the territory.
Wassem – who works for Oxfam and has often appeared on our exclusive Diaries from Gaza audio series – said in his most recent update earlier this month that he and his family were forced to travel from Khan Younis to Mawasy, amidst constant bombing and airstrikes.
He says the streets are crammed with thousands of people fleeing on foot or on donkey carts; all are scared. “The situation can’t be described,” he added.
His family are now living in a makeshift tent, surviving on canned food, with no bread or water.
The extent of the population’s hunger eclipsed even the near-famines in Afghanistan and Yemen of recent years, according to figures in the UN report.
“It doesn’t get any worse,” said Arif Husain, chief economist for the UN’s World Food Programme. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed. How quickly it has happened, in just a matter of two months.”
Habiba’s full wishlist for when the war ends has been translated below:
- Take a hot shower
- Buy all the toys I want
- Walk by the sea
- Go to the restaurants that have a lot of games
- Go to a funland
- Eat chocolate
- Eat all the things I’ve drawn
- Eat some chips
- Travel outside Gaza
- Safely, go back to my home
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