nidal.sultan

I was a student in the Faculty of Physical Education at Al-Aqsa University, carrying a simple dream of a dignified future. However, the war forced me to stop my education and completely changed the course of my life.

I am writing here today for the first time, not for myself, but for my family, whom I am now solely responsible for.

I support an entire family consisting of my mother, three sisters, and my wife.

I lost my father in 2017. I was only about ten years old, yet life did not wait for me to grow up. Suddenly, I found myself carrying the responsibility of a mother and young sisters. I was not alone at that time; my brother Mohammed was my support, my strength, and the light of my life. Together, we shared the burden and tried to protect what remained of our childhood.

But the war did not stop there.

On February 4, 2024, my brother Mohammed was martyred, and since that day, I have been alone in facing life, alone in providing for my entire family, and alone in carrying an unbearable pain.

My mother is elderly and unable to work, and I have no stable job.

My youngest sister, Hala, is nine years old—a child who dreams of a warm home, an education, and simple things that should be every child’s right, yet today she is deprived of the most basic necessities of childhood.

We were displaced and lived in tents for months, enduring cold, rain, and darkness. Part of our home was destroyed, leaving us without a safe place to return to or a source of income to protect us from need.