"I Lost Most of My Family in One Night" | 13-Year-Old Youssef's Story from Gaza

In this deeply moving episode of Witness Talk, we meet Youssef Al-Barawi, a thirteen-year-old boy, whose childhood was torn apart in an instant. On November 17, 2023, Youssef's world collapsed when his uncle's house in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, was directly struck. In that single moment, he lost his mother, his father, his brother, and two sisters. He was buried under rubble for five hours. When rescuers finally pulled him out, his leg was so severely injured that it would later be amputated.

He was taken to the Indonesian Hospital, a place under siege, where there was no water, no food, no treatment. For days, he lay bleeding and in pain, watching through a window as his family was buried in pieces. When soldiers stormed the hospital and ordered everyone to evacuate, Youssef was forced onto a bus headed south. At the Netzarim checkpoint, even though he was a critically wounded child, soldiers made him get off.

Eventually, Youssef made it to Turkey, where he spent five months in the hospital, twenty days of that alone in intensive care, waiting for his brother to join him. Today, he is learning to walk again with a prosthetic limb.

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