ATLANTA — Ghada Elnajjar finds herself stuck between two different time zones.
While she wakes up on east coast, she is mentally seven hours ahead, thinking of her Palestinian relatives living through desperate conditions in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas war started with Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Israeli officials stated that the violence left 1,400 people dead and hundreds of hostages taken.
The ongoing war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip that continues to worsen by the hour. International calls for an immediate ceasefire grow louder as the death toll among Palestinians has passed 8,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The recent communications blackout in Gaza increased concerns about the besieged territory’s shortage of food, water, fuel, medical supplies and electricity.
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Elnajjar said since the war started, she barely sleeps. She stays glued to her phone at all hours of the day, hoping her Palestinian family is safe.
“Yesterday I went to sleep at three in the morning and I woke up at 7:30 this morning,” Elnajjar said.
While looking through photo albums, Elnajjar remembers her visit to Gaza. As the daughter of Palestinian refugees, she said the region has always held a special place in her heart. She describes the experience as “being able to reconnect with relatives is food for the soul.”
These past few weeks, she reconnects with family praying for their safety and protection.
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“I’m finding myself having to open up Facebook and thinking, 'Is this going to be the minute that I find out something bad happened?'” she explained.
Her worst nightmare came true.
“A little boy of my extended family saying goodbye to his entire family who died in an airstrike - and he was the only survivor,” she said of a video update.
Elnajjar said the humanitarian crisis needs immediate attention in order to save lives. The global protests and outcries show that Palestinians just want to be seen as people, she explained.
“Everything is a number; a statistic. With social media, we’re now seeing images that are no longer numbers. You’re seeing faces,” she said. “How long do we have to ask the world to see us as humans?”
Her hopes are what many are now calling for.
“Push for a ceasefire," she said. "De-escalation and ceasefire. The killings must stop."