To Our Men in Gaza

9 December 2023: 2 days ago, Israeli forces stormed the northern Beit Lahia neighborhood at 10 am, ordering people to come down and surrender. Women and children were sent to Jabalia and Kamal Adwan hospitals. The “men” remained, some of them as young as 13-14 years old. They stripped them and took pictures, they tied them up. And put them in their trucks.

The men were lined up on the coastline and left in the cold, naked, stripped of their garments and dignity for 14-15 hours. Some were interrogated, and some were beaten and insulted. Some were returned, while others remain missing.

What people forget is that

These men also once were children 

Children who had to grow up too fast

children who survived countless wars

and lived lives full of injustices

In which every day is a curse and a blessing. 

They are the ones

who are pulling out bodies from the rubble of collapsed buildings

who risk their life to get to the dead

and save as many as they can 

They saw how the world turned against them, once they grew beards, 

and from innocent children

they were looked at with fear.

The bad man you’re looking for 

is the one they’re hiding  from 

Our men are brave; they are sweet and generous and would do anything to protect those they love and those they don’t know. 

Some are fathers who swore to be their children’s protectors 

Yet, see the light disappear from their children’s eyes 

while embracing them for one last time 

And no time to cry 

they need to be strong for their other child 

This is to our men in Gaza, whose sole existence is a form of resistance.