When even the simplest details of life become a dream

There are pains that scream, and others that are content with silence. In Gaza, however, there is a pain that chose to live between the ribs, unseen by the eye, yet it weighs heavy on the heart until it almost makes it impossible to keep beating. It is waiting… that heavy guest that hasn’t left homes for years, until it became part of the details of life, of the features on faces, and the stories that never end.

Have you ever experienced time stopping for you at a station you can’t leave, while the world around you rushes forward? Spending hours of your day nailed to the roadside of expectancy, not for anything except to get a drop of water or a loaf of bread? In Gaza, this forgotten part of the world, age isn’t measured in years, but in the minutes and hours spent standing in lines of waiting. The suffering begins with simple morning details that have turned into daily hell. People stand for long hours waiting for a gallon of clean water, or a loaf of bread to feed their children, or even a spot to charge a phone to stay connected to what remains of this world. This monotonous waiting isn’t just physical fatigue; it’s a systematic gnawing at human dignity, where the energy and dreams of youth are wasted securing basic survival needs, turning the entire day into an exhausting journey in anticipation of the simplest rights.

And as days pass, waiting no longer remains just a state …As days go by, waiting is no longer just a temporary state; it turns into a psychological burden that quietly drains a person. It doesn’t only leave a mark on the body, but it also steals the soul’s ability to live, making the future seem blurry no