Before sunset on Monday (March 17), Hiyam Issa Karsou spread a black plastic tablecloth on the floor of her home in Gaza City. The psychologist and mother of four set out the iftar meal she had prepared: bowls of white beans cooked in tomato sauce and a tray of rice, accompanied by pickles and dates. It was the end of the 17th day of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.
Several hours later, about an hour before Hiyam’s family planned to eat suhoor, the early morning meal consumed before fasting resumes, they woke to the sound of rockets, followed by screams of women and children and the rumble of concrete buildings collapsing.
“The intensity of the explosions … made us realize that the war had returned,” Hiyam said. “It was a blood-soaked suhoor.”
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