Voices

On 7 October 2023, my life was turned upside down.

My name is Yaser. I am Palestinian, born in Gaza. I grew up there; my memories, my friends, my family are there. It is my home. Or at least I think so. Since childhood I have known the sound of planes, the bombing, and the fear of not knowing whether the people I love will still be alive the next day. But nothing had prepared me for what we were about to live through.

I was lucky: I lived through only seven months of this war. Seven months of being afraid of dying, of watching houses disappear, families lose their loved ones, people I knew never come back. We knew hunger, thirst, displacement. We left places to look for others, without ever being truly safe. In Gaza, you could laugh with someone, share a tea, and learn a few hours later that they had been killed.

Today I am in France. I am safe. But my two younger sisters are still in Gaza, with our elder sister and her children.
How could I be at peace here, when I know what they may be living through there? I know that fear. I have lived it. And every time I see images of Gaza, I think of them.
I left Gaza, but Gaza has never left me.

I also want to say something clearly.

I reject the occupation of my land and the denial of my people’s rights. But I condemn just as clearly the massacres of civilians committed on 7 October. Killing innocent people, taking hostages, making families suffer is not acceptable. Whoever the victims are.
And I refuse to let those massacres be used to justify the ones that followed in Gaza.

Palestinians are not Hamas. We are human beings like everyone else. We have families, dreams, plans. We want to study, work, travel, love and live in peace. I do not want the children of Gaza to grow up learning the names of missiles before their school lessons. I do not want our suffering to become something normal.

I am not telling this to ask for pity. I would simply like people to understand that behind every number there is a person, a family, a life. I survived the war, but the war has never left me. I want to be able, one day, to go back home, to be with those I love and to live freely on my land, without fear.

I am not asking for any privilege. I am simply asking that my life, my sisters’ lives and the life of every Palestinian have the same value as all others. We have the right to live. Not just to survive. And that is also why, with my host family and with your help, we created the association: so as not to let hope be extinguished. And, as far as possible, to help make the future possible.

Yaser Al Rayyes · 7 October 2026

Published in his own name. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Human Sea Bridge.