An update on Amgad Al-Mahalawi and his family in Gaza by Doug Hostetter, International Representative of Pax Christi International at the United Nations in New-York.
My friend Amgad Al-Mahalawi has been on the run with his family since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack against southern Israel that took the lives of 1,139 Israelis citizens, soldiers and foreign workers and captured about 250 Israeli citizens, soldiers and foreign workers. Israel responded with a vengeance attacking all of Gaza. According to the Gazan Ministry of Health and as reported by OCHA, from October 7, 2023 to January 28, 2025 there were 47,354 people documented to have been killed in Gaza (many thousands more have yet to be retrieved and are still buried under the rubble) displacing 90 % of the population, as reported among others by UNWRA.
I have known Amgad for over a decade and have been in text communication with Amgad almost daily since the war began, learning what it has been like to try to survive in the midst of a genocidal war on Gaza. When the ceasefire came into effect on January 19th, I texted Amgad to see how he was feeling.
“We are worried that the war will return. We are relieved that the bombing has ceased, but just today, my oldest brother, Shadi (38), who remained in Gaza City sent pictures of our bombed neighborhood. Our family all lived together in this house, which has six apartments, each with their own bedroom, living room, kitchen and bath. The homes of my three married brothers on the top two floors were completely destroyed, while my father’s apartment and my apartment were only partially destroyed.
Shadi also sent a picture of the school where we were sheltering when the Israelis shelled in November 2023 that killed my father, brother and sister while wounding my wife and our sons. Shadi had taken the picture the day after the attack but never sent it to me before the ceasefire as he worried for his own safety and also didn’t want to make me sad.”
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- The room in the school where Amgad’s family was sheltering
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- Amgad’s family home in Gaza city
On January 20th, I mentioned that there were lots of pictures of the 600 trucks per day of food and other supplies that were supposedly going into Gaza under the ceasefire agreement, and asked Amgad if any free food was making it to Khan Younis where he and his family have been living.
“No relief supplies have come to Khan Younis. We need to buy everything from the local market. The relief supplies have all been stolen and sold to the market.
We wait for our return home and to be able to hug Shadi, my oldest brother. When we fled from the north, Shadi’s wife and two children came with me. Shadi’s wife died of heart break and heart attack while we were in Rafah, but his son, Anas (5) and daughter, Aline (3) have been with me for this past 14 months. His children miss him so much. I am waiting to return to our home to hug Shadi.”
These were the messages from Amgad on the following days:
Friday, January 24th:
“On Sunday we will go back, if Israel does not block. Shadi will be very happy to see his children whom he has not seen for over a year. I asked if his family would be able to bring their tent, mattresses, blankets etc.?
We will need to walk. We will walk 14 km to the Netzarim Corridor and then try to hire a car to bring us home.”
Saturday, January 25th:
“We will walk tomorrow to the checkpoint at the Netzarim Corridor.”
Sunday, January 26th:
“We dismantled all the tents and everything and tried to walk to the checkpoint. We were surprised by the Israeli decision to block the return to the north. We couldn’t go past the checkpoint because of the gunfire. It was really cold, so the women sleep with relatives in Nusairat, close to the checkpoint for returning to the north. The problem now is that we left Khan Younis where we had tents, a small stove and a toilet, here we have nothing. Where will we stay as we wait to return to the north? What if negotiations fail?
Please pray for us.”
Finally, on Friday, 31st January, I received some photos and videos from Amgad of their arrival home.
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- Interior view of Amgad’s home
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- Amgad’s aunt kissing the ground
“It is happy and sad to be home. I am sad that my father, sister and brother are no longer with us. It is sad to be home when they are not here.”
The building where Amgad lives has three floors, each floor has two apartments. Three of the apartments are completely destroyed, while the others are damaged by shrapnel, bullets, and remaining unexploded shells. There is no electricity and they have to walk 350 meters to buy water from the water station and transport it to the house. The walls and windows were blown out as were the windows, that they tried to fix a little.
The family is also cleaning the house of stones and missile fragments. The hardest thing is that, after leaving the house, fleeing death, they had thieves behind stealing clothes, batteries, wood, household items, gifts and special items.
We learned that material things are not the most important. We have had everything we owned stolen from my house, and whatever we had with us, we sold to survive. We even sold our wives’ gold to live and feed our children. But we have survived, my wife and children are the most important things in life, and we are still alive! All love and thanks to you and to the friends who helped us survive this genocide.
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