For three years, Nisreen Touman has gone to bed every night in tears, remembering all she has lost since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
asserted
she → go → October
By the time Nisreen was 34, she had been widowed twice.
asserted
she → widow → time
First, she lost her husband and her two children in June 2024.
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she → lose → June
Then in July 2025, eight months after she remarried, Nisreen lost her second husband while she was pregnant.
asserted
she → remarry → husband
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images → show → war
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settlers → attack → pogrom
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archaeologists → vie → heritage
Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Nisreen lived a happy and stable life in her home in Nuseirat, central Gaza, with her husband, Sami, 35, and their two children, Mahmoud and Laith, who were aged five and two at the time of their deaths.
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who → live → deaths
“I had a home and a complete family.
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I → have → home
I got along with my husband, and we were friends,” she says, fighting back her tears.
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she → get → tears
Everything changes
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Everything → change → ?
On June 8, 2024, Nisreen was returning home with her husband and children after visiting extended family, who had been displaced to al-Mawasi in Khan Younis.
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who → return → Younis
“We arrived and the children were playing in the street.
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children → arrive → street
I was upstairs with my husband when suddenly we started hearing heavy, very close, bombing and gunfire.”
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we → start → bombing
Her husband rushed outside to bring their children and his brother’s and sister’s children inside, where 25 members of her family were staying.
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members → rush → family
He then went outside again to see what was happening, as aircraft flew overhead.
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aircraft → go → ?
“That was the last time I saw him.
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I → see → him
I later learned that he had been killed by a gunshot to the head from a quadcopter that was flying over the area that day,” she said.
asserted
she → learn → area
Minutes later, while trying to calm the children as the bombing and gunfire continued, the house was targeted by an Israeli aircraft.
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house → try → aircraft
“I lost consciousness for a few moments, then woke up to thick dust that completely blocked my view,” she said.
asserted
she → lose → view
“As the dust began to clear, I started to understand our place was bombed.
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place → begin → ?
I heard the family screaming and saw blood and body parts.
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family → hear → blood
I started shouting, ‘My children, my children.’”
asserted
I → start → children
Nisreen breaks down as she recalls seeing her two children lying on the ground.
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children → break → ground
One had suffered severe head injuries, while the other appeared to be sleeping.
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other → suffer → injuries
“I knew from that moment that I had lost them.
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I → know → them
It was clear that they were dead,” she says, recalling how she was unable to move from the shock.
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she → say → shock
Her husband’s brother came and placed the children in her arms.
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brother → come → arms
“I could not speak.
uncertain
I → speak → ?
I was completely unable to speak, just tears running silently,” she said.
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she → speak → ?
“Everyone around me was screaming and crying.”
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Everyone → scream → me
For two hours, Nisreen held her children in her arms as the family, including those who were injured, remained trapped in the damaged home as gunfire and bombing continued.
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gunfire → hold → home
After repeated requests to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help, the family were eventually evacuated to a hospital.
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family → repeat → hospital
The killing of Nisreen’s family came on one of the bloodiest days of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
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killing → come → Gaza
On June 8, 2024, Israeli forces launched a military operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, to rescue four Israeli captives who had been held following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
asserted
who → launch → October
The United Nations said 89 inhabited houses and residential buildings were targeted in nearly four hours of bombing.
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houses → say → bombing
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 wounded on that day alone.
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698 → say → day
Eighteen members of Nisreen’s husband’s family were killed, including her husband and children, her sister Sabreen, 36, her mother-in-law, two of her husband’s brothers and their children, as well as members of the extended family.
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members → kill → family
A difficult decision
Nisreen returned alone to her family’s tent in al-Mawasi south of Gaza, where she struggled with the trauma and grief of losing her family.
asserted
she → return → family
Four and a half months later, Nisreen found herself facing a difficult decision when her late sister’s husband, who was also her first husband’s brother, proposed to her.
asserted
who → find → her
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
