Kawthar Shomar, 35, wakes up every morning to stand in a long line west of the city of Deir al-Balah to get food for her children.
As soon as she finishes feeding them, she prepares to go to a stall in the city market. There she will spend the day sewing worn-out shoes to earn money to provide her family with basic needs, including for blankets to protect against a winter that has already claimed several lives.
Shomar was widowed after an airstrike killed her husband in December 2023 in an attack on the popular Shujaiya market in Gaza City.
“After my husband was martyred, I went with my four children to the southern Gaza Strip to escape the bombing. I did not know where I would go,” Shomar told The Electronic Intifada in December.
She and her children were displaced more than six times, during Israel’s genocidal attack, ending up in a tent inside a shelter for displaced people west of Deir al-Balah.
“I didn’t have any money to buy clothes and food for my children. In the end, I decided to sell my wedding ring,” she said.
Shomar first found work making pastries and selling them from a small stall, and now she sews worn-out shoes.
“I feel like I have to be a superwoman, and I am dealing with many difficult responsibilities towards my family. All I want is for my children to feel safe again and for me to regain some of the life that the war stole.”
PERCEPTION RESET 