'It feels impossible to live' One Rafah family's effort to find safety amid chaos

The view from the window of the Almodallals' kitchen in Rafah is nothing but rubble.

- Ruth Michaelson & Faisal Ali

Piles of debris that used to be their neighbours' homes surround them in the al-Zuhour neighborhood, gaping holes ripped through what remains of the walls, leaving only mounds of broken glass and concrete that crack in the silent air when people tread on them.

"We were targeted three times: to the right of our house, the left, and behind it. Now we joke that we're next," said Shahed Almodallal, a 21-year-old student who has spent the last four months living at her family home in Rafah, unable to return to her apartment or her university in Gaza City after both were destroyed in Israel's bombardment of the territory.

She said: "You feel the change living in this neighborhood, we used to be able to hear the sounds of other people. Now in every direction, there's rubble and traces of dead bodies." Her mother, Naima, often refuses to look out the window, appalled by the destruction, and the family has taken to sleeping at a relative's house in fear of more strikes.

Shahed said: "I've been injured several times just standing close to the windows." Al-Zuhour was previously designated as a safe zone by the Israeli military, she added.