DistantNews
🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Gaza woman recounts heartbreak of border closure separating her from husband

From Hankyoreh · (6m ago) Korean Critical tone

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Halima Hattab, a Palestinian woman from Gaza, shares her struggles due to the closure of the Rafah border crossing.
  • The closure prevents her from joining her husband in Kuwait, where he found work due to Gaza's severe economic hardship.
  • Hattab, a psychological counselor, finds solace in helping others cope with trauma while awaiting a reunion with her husband and the possibility of starting a family.

This deeply personal account from Halima Hattab, published by The Hankyoreh, offers a stark and heartbreaking perspective on the human cost of the ongoing conflict and border closures affecting Gaza. Hattab's narrative transcends political discourse, focusing on the intimate pain of separation and the dashed hopes of a family yearning for normalcy and a future.

I also wanted to go with him, but I couldn't. Kuwait requires foreigners to meet various conditions, such as obtaining a residency permit and securing stable housing, before they can bring their families.

— Halima HattabHattab explains the difficulties she faced in joining her husband abroad.

Her husband's departure to Kuwait in search of stable employment, a necessity driven by Gaza's crippling economic conditions and lack of opportunities, sets the stage for her plight. The dream of starting a family through IVF, a costly procedure in Gaza, further underscores the desperate measures taken by Palestinians to build a life amidst adversity. The closure of the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only gateway to the outside world, has trapped Hattab, turning her planned reunion into an agonizing wait.

The closure of the Rafah border crossing, the only passage out of Gaza to foreign countries, means that the path to leaving the country disappears.

— Halima HattabHattab describes the critical impact of the border closure on her ability to leave Gaza.

As a psychological counselor herself, Hattab's work involves aiding children and women traumatized by war. Ironically, in helping them heal, she finds a measure of personal resilience. Yet, her own longing for her husband and the imagined future—holding a child, embracing her husband at Kuwait Airport—reveals the profound emotional toll of displacement and separation. This story highlights a reality often missed in international coverage: the everyday lives and dreams of Gazans that are systematically disrupted, leaving them in a state of suspended reality, waiting for a border to open and a life to resume.

The repeated Israeli airstrikes during the war made life in Gaza even more painful. One day, an airstrike hit the camp, killing 12 people. I screamed and collapsed when I realized that most of the victims were women and children attending my counseling sessions.

— Halima HattabHattab recounts the trauma she has witnessed and experienced due to the conflict.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog