Widowed twice: A Gaza mother’s story of loss and survival

A young mother has lost two husbands and two children during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Nisreen Touman has lost two children during the war [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Gaza City, Gaza — 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.

By the time Nisreen was 34, she had been widowed twice. First, she lost her husband and her two children in June 2024. Then in July 2025, eight months after she remarried, Nisreen lost her second husband while she was pregnant.

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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.

“I had a home and a complete family. I got along with my husband, and we were friends,” she says, fighting back her tears.

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.

“We arrived and the children were playing in the street. Everything was normal. I was upstairs with my husband when suddenly we started hearing heavy, very close, bombing and gunfire.”

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.

He then went outside again to see what was happening, as aircraft flew overhead.

“That was the last time I saw 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.

Minutes later, while trying to calm the children as the bombing and gunfire continued, the house was targeted by an Israeli aircraft.

“I lost consciousness for a few moments, then woke up to thick dust that completely blocked my view,” she said.

“As the dust began to clear, I started to understand our place was bombed. I heard the family screaming and saw blood and body parts. I started shouting, ‘My children, my children.’”

Nisreen lost her two children and husband, Sami, in a 2024 Israeli air raid [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Nisreen breaks down as she recalls seeing her two children lying on the ground. One had suffered severe head injuries, while the other appeared to be sleeping.

“I knew from that moment that I had lost them. It was clear that they were dead,” she says, recalling how she was unable to move from the shock.

Her husband’s brother came and placed the children in her arms.

“I could not speak. I was completely unable to speak, just tears running silently,” she said. “Everyone around me was screaming and crying.”

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.

After repeated requests to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help, the family were eventually evacuated to a hospital.

The killing of Nisreen’s family came on one of the bloodiest days of Israel’s genocidal war on 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.

The United Nations said 89 inhabited houses and residential buildings were targeted in nearly four hours of bombing. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 wounded on that day alone.

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.

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. 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.

He wanted to marry Nisreen and have her help take care of their four children, who had lost their mother.

“I strongly opposed it at first. I did not want to start a family or get married,” Nisreen said. She eventually agreed because she wanted to care for her departed sister’s children, especially the youngest, who was only one year old.

Nisreen does not hide the fact that there were no romantic feelings behind her second marriage. “I had lost my husband, and he had lost his wife. I had lost my children, and the four children had lost their mother,” she said.

The marriage allowed two people to fill the roles of the ones they lost. Nisreen found in her sister’s children a small comfort for the absence of her own.

But her new life came with significant challenges, especially during the first months. She was still grieving her first husband and her children, as she and her new husband attempted to adjust to each other.

Their different personalities and the new situation presented challenges, but gradually their lives became more stable. Nisreen even considered having another child.

“I used to see my children who had died, in my dreams every day. I would drift into thoughts about them, and they never left my mind,” she said. “So, with encouragement from my mother, I decided to become pregnant and experience motherhood again.”

But eight months later, on July 8, 2025, Nisreen faced something she had never imagined: the loss of her second husband.

“Mohammed woke up, had breakfast with the children and said he was going to see a friend. A few moments later, we heard a huge explosion,” she said.

Shortly after, Nisreen was told by a neighbour that Mohammed had been killed in a strike on a group of people near al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat.

For Nisreen, this second loss was even harder to bear than the first. After believing she had finally settled into a new sense of stability, her life was once again turned upside down.

“I felt like I was back at zero again,” she said. “I thought about the baby who had not yet been born, the children of my sister who had now lost both their mother and father, and the new loss I was living through.”

The remaining months of her pregnancy were heavy for Nisreen. Four months after Mohammed’s death, she gave birth to their daughter, Sidra.

Sidra’s birth brought back to Nisreen the pain of everything she had lost – her two children, her first husband and Mohammed.

Nisreen now lives with Sidra at her family’s home in Gaza [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

While her daughter, who turns one in October, has brought Nisreen a “little compensation” for three years of sadness, it pains her that she will grow up without a father.

“Becoming a mother again brought me joy, but that feeling was deeply incomplete. She was a little compensation,” she said

Caring for Sidra has become Nisreen’s main priority.

“I have become more isolated. I prefer to stay quiet for hours and focus on my daughter,” Nisreen says. “I am afraid of making any new choices or trying to start another life after everything that happened to me.”

Nisreen now lives with Sidra at her family’s home in Gaza, while her late sister’s four children are being cared for by their grandfather. She visits them from time to time.

No matter how much time passes, she says she is unable to overcome the series of tragedies that have shaped her life.

“I never imagined I would go through all of this in my life. Sometimes it feels like I’m in an Indian film because of everything that has happened,” she said. “But under the war, unfortunately, anything is possible.”

一位年轻的母亲在以色列对加沙发动的种族灭绝战争中失去了两任丈夫和两个孩子。

Nisreen Touman 在战争期间失去了两个孩子 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/半岛电视台]

加沙城，加沙——三年来，尼斯琳·图曼每晚都含泪入睡，回忆起自 2023 年 10 月以色列对加沙发动战争以来她失去的一切。

妮丝琳34岁时，已经两次丧夫。第一次是在2024年6月，她失去了丈夫和两个孩子。第二次是在2025年7月，在她再婚八个月后，妮丝琳在怀孕期间失去了她的第二任丈夫。

列表 1/4：卫星图像显示，以色列发动种族灭绝战争三年后，加沙地带已成废墟。

以色列定居者袭击被占领的西岸贾卢德村，引发骚乱（共4条记录，此为第2条）

巴勒斯坦周刊（共4篇报道，此为第3篇）：以色列政客在选举前竞相展现强硬形象

巴勒斯坦考古学家争分夺秒拯救加沙遗产（共4条，此为第4条）

在以色列对加沙发动种族灭绝战争之前，尼斯琳和她35岁的丈夫萨米以及他们的两个孩子马哈茂德和莱斯在加沙中部努塞拉特的家中过着幸福稳定的生活。他们去世时，马哈茂德和莱斯分别是5岁和2岁。

“我有一个家，一个完整的家庭。我和丈夫相处融洽，我们是朋友，”她说着，努力抑制住泪水。

2024 年 6 月 8 日，妮丝琳和她的丈夫、孩子在探望了流离失所到汗尤尼斯市马瓦西的亲戚后返回家中。

“我们到达时，孩子们正在街上玩耍。一切都很正常。我和丈夫当时在楼上，突然听到很近的、沉重的轰炸声和枪声。”

她的丈夫冲到外面，把他们的孩子以及他兄弟姐妹的孩子都带进屋里，她家有 25 个人都住在那里。

然后他又走到外面去看发生了什么事，当时有飞机从头顶飞过。

“那是我最后一次见到他。后来我​​才知道，他那天被一架飞越该地区的四轴飞行器上的枪手击中头部身亡了，”她说。

几分钟后，在轰炸和枪声持续不断的情况下，他们正试图安抚孩子们，这时一架以色列飞机瞄准了这栋房子。

“我失去了意识片刻，然后醒来时发现周围都是厚厚的灰尘，完全遮蔽了我的视线，”她说。

“尘埃落定后，我才意识到我们的家遭到了轰炸。我听到家人的尖叫声，看到了鲜血和残肢断臂。我开始大喊：‘我的孩子们，我的孩子们！’”

Nisreen 在 2024 年以色列空袭中失去了两个孩子和丈夫萨米 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/半岛电视台]

妮丝琳回忆起看到两个孩子躺在地上的情景，不禁崩溃。一个孩子头部受了重伤，另一个孩子则似乎在睡觉。

“从那一刻起，我就知道我失去他们了。很明显，他们已经死了，”她回忆起当时自己因震惊而无法动弹时说道。

她丈夫的兄弟过来，把孩子们放在她怀里。

“我当时说不出话来，完全说不出话，只有泪水无声地流淌，”她说。“我周围的人都在尖叫和哭泣。”

两个小时里，妮丝琳一直抱着她的孩子，一家人，包括受伤的人，都被困在受损的房屋里，枪声和爆炸声持续不断。

在多次向红十字国际委员会请求帮助后，这家人最终被送往医院。

尼斯琳一家遇害的日子，是以色列对加沙发动种族灭绝战争期间最血腥的日子之一。2024年6月8日，以色列军队在加沙中部的努塞拉特难民营发起军事行动，营救四名以色列人质。这些人质是在2023年10月7日哈马斯领导的袭击以色列南部后被扣押的。

联合国称，在近四个小时的轰炸中，89栋有人居住的房屋和住宅楼遭到袭击。加沙卫生部表示，仅当天就有274名巴勒斯坦人丧生，698人受伤。

尼斯琳丈夫家共有 18 名成员遇难，其中包括她的丈夫和孩子、她 36 岁的妹妹萨布琳、她的婆婆、她丈夫的两个兄弟和他们的孩子，以及其他亲属。

一个艰难的决定

妮丝琳独自一人回到位于加沙南部马瓦西的家人帐篷，在那里，她难以走出失去家人的创伤和悲痛。四个半月后，妮丝琳面临着一个艰难的抉择：她已故姐姐的丈夫，同时也是她前夫的兄弟，向她求婚了。

他想娶妮丝琳为妻，让她帮忙照顾他们四个失去母亲的孩子。

“起初我强烈反对。我不想组建家庭，也不想结婚，”妮丝琳说。但她最终还是同意了，因为她想照顾已故姐姐的孩子们，尤其是最小的那个，当时他只有一岁。

妮丝琳坦言，她的第二次婚姻并非出于爱情。“我失去了丈夫，他也失去了妻子。我失去了孩子，四个孩子也失去了母亲。”她说。

这段婚姻让两个人得以填补失去亲人的角色。妮丝琳在姐姐的孩子身上找到了些许慰藉，弥补了自己失去孩子的遗憾。

但她的新生活也充满了挑战，尤其是在最初的几个月里。她仍在为失去第一任丈夫和孩子们而悲痛，同时还要努力与新婚丈夫磨合。

他们性格迥异，加上新的处境，带来了挑战，但生活逐渐稳定下来。妮丝琳甚至考虑再生一个孩子。

“我以前每天都会在梦里见到我去世的孩子们。我会不由自主地想起他们，他们从未离开过我的脑海，”她说。“所以，在母亲的鼓励下，我决定怀孕，再次体验为人母的感觉。”

但八个月后，2025 年 7 月 8 日，妮丝琳面临着她从未想象过的事情：失去了她的第二任丈夫。

“穆罕默德醒来后和孩子们一起吃了早餐，然后说他要去见一个朋友。几分钟后，我们就听到一声巨响，”她说。

不久之后，尼斯琳从邻居那里得知，穆罕默德在努塞拉特奥达医院附近的一次袭击中丧生。

对妮丝琳来说，第二次失去亲人的痛苦比第一次更加难以承受。她原本以为自己终于过上了稳定的生活，却再次遭遇了人生巨变。

“我感觉自己又回到了原点，”她说。“我想到了那个还没出生的孩子，想到了我姐姐的孩子们，他们现在失去了父母，也想到了我正在经历的新的失去。”

妮丝琳怀孕的最后几个月都非常难熬。穆罕默德去世四个月后，她生下了女儿西德拉。

Sidra 的出生让 Nisreen 再次感受到失去一切的痛苦——她的两个孩子、她的第一任丈夫和 Mohammed。

妮丝琳现在和西德拉一起住在加沙的娘家。[阿卜杜勒哈基姆·阿布·里亚什/半岛电视台]

虽然她的女儿将在十月份满一岁，给妮丝琳带来了三年悲伤的“一点补偿”，但令她痛苦的是，女儿将在没有父亲的陪伴下长大。

“再次成为母亲让我感到快乐，但这种感觉却远远不够。她（指孩子）只是对我的一种补偿，”她说。

照顾西德拉成了妮丝琳的首要任务。

“我变得更加孤僻了。我宁愿安静地待上几个小时，专心陪伴女儿，”妮丝琳说。“经历了这一切之后，我害怕做出任何新的选择，也害怕重新开始新的生活。”

妮丝琳现在和西德拉一起住在加沙的娘家，她已故姐姐的四个孩子则由他们的祖父照顾。她会不时去看望他们。

她说，无论时间过去多久，她都无法克服塑造她人生的一系列悲剧。

“我从未想过自己的人生会经历这一切。有时候，我觉得自己就像身处一部印度电影里，因为发生的一切太过真实，”她说。“但不幸的是，在战争的阴影下，任何事情都有可能发生。”