On the morning of 7 October, Neama al-Barawi got up early to prepare her children for school and make bread. At 6.29am, the 36-year-old heard the howl of rockets being launched towards Israel from close to her home in Beit Lahia, one of the northernmost communities of Gaza.
Soon rumours began to spread that Hamas, the militant Islamist organisation that had ruled Gaza for almost all al-Barawi’s adult life, had broken through the perimeter fence built around the territory by Israel. Scared, she decided to keep her five children at home.
