‘It's only a matter of days': Palestinians bid farewell as Israel rains bombs on Gaza

Middle East Eye

04-04-2025

Palestinians are posting final messages and letters of farewell on social media, expressing their fear they will not survive amid the intensity of Israel's carpet bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Many Palestinians in Gaza have turned to social media since the start of Israel's onslaught in October 2023 to communicate with one another, document Israeli attacks and their daily experiences, and share their thoughts, hopes and lives with international audiences in a period when media outlets, social media platfroms and arts and education institutions stand accused of censoring information and muzzling freedom of expression related to the war.
Over the past 24 hours however, posts expressing hopelessness amid the severity and destructiveness of the attacks and fear that people in Gaza might not survive this time, have soared.
On Thursday, Israel killed at least 112 Palestinians, in what has become the deadliest day since Israel resumed its war on the besieged enclave on 18 March.
A video posted by Nour, a woman from Gaza, shows an Israeli strike on a building nearby amidst an entirely destroyed neighbourhood as a woman sobs in the background.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
"It seems we won't survive this time .." the caption reads.
For the first time in months, people in Gaza are messaging with their farewells. And there is pin drop silence on the news. — Sarayu Pani (@sarayupani) April 4, 2025
Journalist Abdallah Alattar from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, shared: "it seems that we won't make it this time" on Friday morning, which has been widely circulated and reshared.
GAZA IS LITERALLY BREATHING ITS LAST.
We won't bother you with our news anymore.
It's only a matter of days, and everyone will be martyred.
Return to your normal lives.
But... We will not forgive you.
Thank you for your support over the past 18 months. pic.twitter.com/4xjN0LvD34 — Mustafa Darwesh 𝕏 (@MustafaBatneen) April 4, 2025
Abubaker Amed, a football journalist from Deir al-Balah, expressed in a post that the people of Gaza "know the world has let them down and thus feel their killing is a matter of time".
Can anyone hear me? 💔🇵🇸
I'm so scared 😭 I don't want to die 😭 — Nermeen from Gaza 𓂆🇵🇸🍉 (@Nermeenalswaisi) April 3, 2025
Several users have also called on the people and global powers to pay attention and speak up for the people in Gaza, facing not only bombing, but also starvation due to Israel's blockade on food and essentials.
"Bombs above, hunger below—Gaza is suffering. How much longer can we endure this?" wrote one Palestinian. "The world must act NOW!"
It seems we won't survive this time. Save us, do something for us, defend us. I hope my family and I die from bombing and not starvation.https://t.co/8l8FBlx6QNhttps://t.co/DhAwRczcAz https://t.co/Y31T1wMWL8 — Mahayasir🌙🌻⭐️🇵🇸 (@Mahayasir248909) April 2, 2025
Israel's war on Gaza continues to be supported and funded by its allies, most notably the US.
In March, the Donald Trump administration bypassed a normal congressional review to approve a nearly $3bn arms sale to Israel.
On Thursday, independent US Senator Bernie Sanders attempted to bring forward two joint resolutions of disapproval to block $8.8bn worth of offensive weapons sales to Israel that were already approved by the Trump administration.
Only 15 senators, including Tim Kaine and former presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, voted to move forward and the vote to block the weapons transfers failed.
Prayers and self-eulogies
Several users have also used their social media accounts to post a farewell messages and prayers in case they should die.
People in Gaza on social media taking their Shahadas before an imminent death or pleading for the world to take them out following Israel's intensified genocide is the most heartbreaking thing of all time.
And this is the result of the world's shameful silence and ignorance. — Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) April 4, 2025
Writer and pharmacist from Gaza Omar Hamad, on Thursday night posted a farewell message on X, saying that he felt his posts did not make a difference.
"At first, I was eager, sharing everything my hands could write," he said. "But I do not know what you need to see or read to finally rise against all that is happening - not for our sake, but for your conscience, for your faith, so that you do not struggle with your conscience when you go to sleep."
After this tweet, I have decided to stop posting permanently and bid farewell to everyone I had the honor of knowing here.
Writing has always been, and still is, my only escape from everything I feel. Amid this genocide, I decided to share what I wrote and expose the crimes of… — Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) April 3, 2025
"I have never felt death drawing this close to me throughout the entire genocide as I do these days," Hamad wrote in a separate post on 3 April.
Hamza Alsharif, a medical doctor at the European Hospital and the Al-Aqsa Hospital posted on X that bombings "are intensifying across all areas of the Strip", and that "blood is everywhere".
At this very moment, I'm Dr Hamza, speaking to you from the Gaza Strip.
The occupation is exterminating us all at this very moment.
The bombing is intensifying across all areas of the Strip, from north to south. Children are bereft of heads, and martyrs are dismembered, their… pic.twitter.com/SvcqyyUr7c — Dr.Hamza Alsharif 🇵🇸 (@Hamzasharif5750) April 3, 2025
"If I die, I am not a number, I am a planet in itself, I have dreams and ambitions that I wanted to achieve. Don't forget me in your prayers and keep talking about me," Dr Alsharif wrote in a post pinned to his profile since 18 March.
Last month, an Israeli missile targeted and killed 23-year-old Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat in Beit Lahiya just hours after Mohammad Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, was killed in an Israeli air strike which targeted his home. His wife and son were killed alongside him.
Hours after Hossam's death, his colleagues posted a message written by Hossam himself, indicating that he had a sense that he would be likely targeted.
"If you're reading this, it means I have been killed - most likely targeted - by the Israeli occupation forces," said the 23-year-old.
Hossam's self-written eulogy was reminiscent of renowned Palestinian poet and academic Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in December last year and whose widely circulated poem 'If I must die' became a symbol of hope and resistance amid Israel's war.