A year into war in Gaza, Palestinians in Chicago mourn family members killed by Israeli military
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The war in Gaza now enters its second year.
On Oct. 7, Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, took 250 hostages and continues to hold more than 100. Israel's response was immediate, relentlessly bombing Gaza, and killing nearly 42,000 Palestinians over the past year.
The Chicago area is home to the largest Palestinian community in the country. Many of them are grieving their loved ones killed by the Israeli military.
"It's not just a number," said Alaa Abusaman, who was born in Gaza. "You're talking about people who have dreams, who have ambitions, who have life, who have work, and you know, they're flesh and blood. They're not just a number."
Abusaman said around 20 close family members were killed. Laila Khayal lost her mother-in-law, her niece, and her nephew's wife. Nabil Alshurafa said his family has lost count of the people in his family who has been killed.
"I've lost over 200 family members, extended family members as well, and quite honestly we've lost count," Alshurafa said.
"Israel took all this from us."
These three Chicagoans are more than 6,000 miles from home in Gaza. Their families back in Gaza are a lifeline, a connection to the land; many of them struggling to survive there, and some they'll never see again.
"Sometimes I cannot comprehend that I lost some people. Sometimes I cannot comprehend that I cannot open my phone and call my … father-in-law, my mother-in-law," Abusaman said. "Israel took all this from us."
Abusaman said his aunt and uncle were killed in an Israeli airstrike. He said his wife's nephew, his mother-in-law, and his father-in-law all were killed by Israeli snipers.
"He was humble man. He helped so many people. He was a very well-known person in Gaza. He's not a politician. He is a person of [humility], and helping others," Abusaman said of his father-in-law. "My mother-in-law was a feminist leader. She was well-known. She helped others, and everybody respected her," he said, adding his family in Gaza found their bodies after 13 days, lying next to each other.
Nabil Alshurafa explained he and his wife live in anxiety wondering if they will wake up every day to devastating news.
"Every time Israel kills a family member, we wake up to that news a lot of times. It's in the morning. I wake up with, literally, my hand on my heart, and then I check the phone and see the messages," Alshurafa said. "Unfortunately, we see bodies mutilated, bodies under the rubble, maimed children. It's just, the images we see are unbearable."
With each call comes mourning. Khayal said she and her husband bear the weight of having to tell family in the U.S. the news, including their adult children in college.
"What do you say? That your grandmother was just sniped? Your cousin, your first cousin, was just sniped? You know, your cousin's wife, who had two small children, was sniped, and the children fell to the ground?" she said.
"Who's next? Who's next in your family?"
They all worry about the impact of the war on the next generation.
"How do you explain this to your 5- and 6-year-old; and every time she sees someone killed, she sees the words 'Israel killed these Palestinians.' 'Israel killed.' Israel's now being associated with death and destruction for a lot of our kids," Alshurafa said. "I try to explain to her that there's no such thing as a bad person, but there are people that do bad things."
Processing the grief is a struggle, especially when they still have family struggling to survive in Gaza.
"Who's next? Who's next in your family?" Khayal said. "My husband still can't fall asleep at night. He's constantly on his phone. He's constantly checking messages. I'll be honest with you. He sleeps on the recliner every day, because he's glued to Al Jazeera. He's glued to his phone with the eight-hour difference. The same thing. Like, he just does not want to fall asleep, and till this day, he does not sleep."
Abusaman's mother and father also in live Gaza. Their home and neighborhood have been destroyed. A makeshift pot in the midst of the rubble is all they have to cook with.
"It's undescribable the amount of suffering they have," Abusaman said. "My father, who is 67 years [old], he wakes up very early in the morning to line up in a very long line; waiting to buy water to drink. Buy water. They buy 20 liters of water for around $17 to drink. Then they hold this container for long distance so they can cook or drink. Imagine how they use bathroom. There are no bathrooms for so many people, especially people who live in tents. Showers, no showers. There are so many layers of suffering that people don't think about; the hygiene, how they move from place to place."
Connections now lost
"We didn't see them leaving us. We didn't see them killed. So we still have this kind of fake hope that says...that they're still alive; that we might there might be a moment where we can hear their voices. Unfortunately, you know, we know at the end of the day that this is not going to happen," Abusaman said.
They're left praying they don't get another devastating call from back home.
"My sister-in-law, when my husband talks to her, she just constantly says, 'We wish they would just kill us all. Then we know that we're all dead. Because I don't know if my son is going to be next, my other daughter-in-law is going to be next, a grandchild is going to be next. So I just wish they would just kill us all at once,'" Khayal said.