Palestinian-Australian principal takes six months' stress leave after more than 100 family members die in Gaza
In a recurring dream, he's safe in Australia while his sister and extended family are drowning in hellfire.
"It is literally hell. Hell, because they live in a tent, there is no clean water, and in the tent, it's hot, they can't even have air," said Mr Muamar, the principal at one of Australia's largest Islamic schools on the south side of Brisbane.
Every time he picks up his phone, he receives reminders that his family back home is living on a cup of lentils a day — if they're lucky — and he dreams of being able to rescue them.
"It's just a nightmare and it's not for one week, two weeks, three weeks. It is for almost two years," he said.
Mr Muamar has tried unsuccessfully to secure his sister a visa to join him in Australia and while he sends money overseas, he's wracked with guilt and helplessness that he's not doing more.
"When I look at the group chat, I think of my sister, and I can show you her photos, I talked to her the other day, she's skin and bone from hunger, there's no food," Mr Muamar said.
"I said, 'What do you eat?' And she started crying."
Mr Muamar said he stopped counting the numbers of his extended family who have been killed in the conflict when the total reached 130.
He provided the ABC with names for 112 relatives and said all but one had been killed in air strikes.
The ABC was able to verify that 103 of those names are listed on a Gaza Ministry of Health database, which contains the names of 58,380 people reportedly killed during the conflict.
The database comes with the disclaimer it does not include all of those to die in the conflict.
A devout Muslim, Mr Muamar is comforted by his belief that his dead relatives are being cared for in the afterlife, but that's no solace for the living.
"The loss is not only for my family, it is for every single family actually. I know people in Brisbane that lost similar numbers to us."
Mr Muamar left the Gaza strip in 2002 and said he had no "real connection" with some of his lost relatives.
Others, like his cousin Tamim Abu Muammar, he's known since birth and their deaths cut to the bone.
Tamim Muammar, his wife and three daughters were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike while his two young sons survived.
"He's the one I grew up with, we played together when we were children, we [went] to school together and he was a really good man," Mr Muamar said.
"It hit me so much when I lost him, it's just really difficult to think of him, his wife, his kids, they are like five years old."
Another cousin, Salih Mahmood Muamar, was among 14 paramedics killed and buried in a mass grave in March.
An Israeli investigation led to the sacking of a deputy commander and a report detailing "professional failures".
For Mr Muamar and many others in Australia, these deaths are observed in real time on family group chats.
Two weeks ago, he received blow-by-blow updates about his nephew Ahmed Mahmoud Muamar, also a teacher, who was buried under rubble after leaving his tent to seek food.
"My nephew … went to go get a kilo or two kilos of flour from the Israeli-American humanitarian station, they call it, and while he was going home — he did not get anything — he is shelled with the rockets," Mr Muamar said.
"Luckily he managed to get out of the rubble after six or seven hours, they got him out. He lost two of his kneecaps, two broken legs, lots of bruises."
He said that final sleepless night waiting for an update was, "the straw that broke the camel's back".
After 22 months of war, Mr Muamar is exhausted and has reluctantly stepped down as principal to restore his mental health after struggling to sleep and focus.
He wants the wider community to know other Palestinian Australians are suffering and is speaking up because the current war seems interminable.
"What has been happening is literally a genocide. It is an ethnic cleansing," Mr Muamar said.
"At the beginning I understand the reaction of Israel, I understand it's a normal revenge."
Israel has denied allegations of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
An estimated 50 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive, kidnapped in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that started the war.
Dr Mohamed Mustafa is a Palestinian Australian and one of the few people in Australia who has seen the destruction inside Gaza.
The trainee doctor just returned from the second of two visits since the start of the war volunteering as an emergency doctor.
"You're working in a concentration camp, no food, no water, no electricity. You're not allowed to bring in medical supplies with you, 2,000-pound bombs are going off hundreds of metres away from you," Dr Mustafa said.
Dr Mustafa also has a wife in Gaza and knows the pain of searching for updates on loved ones.
"We have times where the communication goes down for three days and you just look at the news and you see where the bombs drop," Dr Mustafa said.
"To watch it unfold in real time, to watch it live-streamed on our phones, I don't think anyone has been in this unique position to watch the destruction of their families and their homes … it makes it very hard to be a Palestinian."
Dr Mustafa said his community feels dehumanised by their representation in the media.
Back at the Islamic College of Brisbane, CEO Dr Ali Kadri supports Mr Muamar's decision, even though the school starts term three without its principal.
Mr Kadri is a leader in his community who turned down an approach to be the federal government's Islamophobia envoy.
He said it was an important time to recognise the suffering in parts of the Australian community.
He said the most important thing people can do now is empathise.
Back at Mr Muamar's house, he's retreated to his garden and is hoping he'll find some peace.
"When you plant a seed and you see it coming back it gives you hope of life," Mr Muamar said.
"What I've seen of Gaza, it's destructive. I have hope of planting a seed and making something new. It makes you think there is hope for coexistence."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Australian
37 minutes ago
- The Australian
Two dead, five Australians injured after tourist boat capsizes in Bali
The Australian government has given an update on five Australians who were thrown into the water when a boat carrying 80 people capsized off Bali. Two people have died and another is still missing in the aftermath of the tragedy. The fast boat was carrying 75 passengers – including at least five Australians – and five crew members when it got caught in a large surf off Sanur in southeast Bali at about 5pm AEST Tuesday. Two have died and scores of others are injured after a boat capsized in Bali. There were 80 people on board when the boat flipped. Picture: 9News The boat, named Fast Boat Dolphin II, had crossed from Nusa Penida and was about 100m from its destination port in Sanur when the boat flipped. The passengers were thrown into the water, with locals scrambling to pull them out of the ocean. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesman told NewsWire they were aware of the incident and working with local authorities in Bali. 'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the welfare of a small number of Australians who were on board the vessel,' they said. 'We are working with local authorities to confirm no other Australians were affected and stand ready to provide consular assistance should it be required.' Passengers were seen being escorted off the rescue boats. Picture: 9News Horrifying footage showed the distressed passengers loaded into inflatable rescue boats and scrambling to leave the water, with one woman carried to the shore seemingly unconscious. Head of the Denpasar Search and Rescue team I Nyoman Sidakarya confirmed two Chinese nationals had died in the incident, and one crew member was still missing. The boat threw the passengers into the water. Photo by Dicky Bisinglasi / AFP The rescue team said 14 people had been transported to hospital. 'We received the initial report to the Bali Province Disaster Management Operations Center (Pusdalops PB) at 4.25pm,' he said. 'We are continuing to gather information regarding the number of passengers and their current condition.' Dozens of people have been injured in the incident. Maritime accidents are common in Indonesia due to poorly regulated safety rules, overcrowding and rough sea conditions. Smartraveller warns Australians travelling to Indonesia to be cautious of rough seas and strong rips at tourist beaches. In March, a 39-year-old Australian woman was killed and two others were injured after a snorkelling boat capsized off the coats of Bali.
ABC News
37 minutes ago
- ABC News
Queensland communities win fight for return of single-officer police stations
In the heart of Queensland's Pioneer Valley, the century-old Mirani Police Station sits on the small town's main street. The yellowing weatherboard building with a small verandah at the front sits squarely facing the main road, watching the traffic go past since 1896. For 27 years, former senior constable Fred Baguley was the officer-in-charge at the station, organising school excursions and attending fatal traffic crashes. "I was always told the community needs a good copper, good school principals, and a good publican," he said. "I had time to go to the high school, be part of the primary school, I was the adopted cop for the kindergarten," Mr Baguley said. He said the police service now took a different attitude to stations with just one or two officers. While Mirani may have been spared a long-term officer vacancy, the nearby communities of Farleigh and Seaforth outside Mackay in north Queensland worry police officers like Mr Baguley may be a thing of the past. Both communities have spent more than a year without a permanently stationed officer. Farleigh's last permanent officer left in November 2023. Tony Muscatt runs a workshop in the town of 800 people. "To have a local copper who's only just down the road is very handy for us," he said. Officers remain close by, stationed at Mackay's Northern Beaches Police Station, a 15-minute drive from Farleigh. "We don't have too much trouble [in Farleigh], but having the local police force basically a minute down the road, that's just a bit of comfort," Mr Muscatt said. The Queensland Police Service has confirmed permanent positions will be advertised at the Farleigh and Seaforth stations in the coming weeks, after community lobbying. QPS Acting Deputy Commissioner for regional operations Mark Kelly said there were at least a dozen vacancies in around 140 of the state's smallest stations. He said single-officer postings were initially set up "on the basis of a horse ride between police stations". Queensland Police Service's 100-Day Review, released last month, reaffirmed the official commitment to divisional and community policing. Deputy Commissioner Kelly said the trial of borderless policing, with officers coming from the nearby Mackay Northern Beaches station to areas such as Farleigh and Seaforth, was a "local initiative" by police management. He added that 24-hour police stations would still support officers in small stations. Police Minister Dan Purdie said his overall aim was not to redeploy officers, but to increase the overall number of serving officers. QPS data shows the net head count for officers statewide increased by 350 in the nine months to July 31. He acknowledged the isolation and limitations for career advancement for roles at the smaller stations were less attractive than they were 30 or 40 years ago. "We need to make sure that we continue to offer incentives for police to stay there and reward them with the equipment that they need," he said. QPS and Queensland's Police Union have secured a controversial in-principle pay deal, which includes incentives for small station officers such as night shift allowance and additional overtime pay. "Older generations were very happy to go out to these regional areas and stay there for extended periods of time," Mr Purdie said. Mirani stalwart Fred Baguley said he was concerned for the future of country police officers. He said plans were raised several times while he was at Mirani to consolidate the smaller stations across the Pioneer Valley. "I was mentored by some very wise old coppers. "[They] told me to go there to be a part of the community, to live there before you work there."
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Homelessness doesn't look like people sleeping on park benches in the Pilbara
When Tess Hulshoff was trying to leave a domestic violence situation, she was afraid homelessness would send her back under the roof of her abusive former partner. "I was terrified. I didn't know what to do," Ms Hulshoff said. "I didn't want to be a burden on my friends. I had two young kids and I was a mess." The Pilbara mother and photographer was kicked out of her home, supplied by her former partner's employer, after telling her partner she was leaving the relationship. "I had done some counselling and the [counsellor] had identified that I was in a situation of DV and coercive control," she said. If you need help immediately call emergency services on triple-0 Ms Hulshoff's situation is one experts say is increasingly common in the Pilbara, which recorded homelessness rates five times the state average during the last census. And research released as part of National Homelessness Week revealed a concerning lack of understanding of homelessness. Most people understand homelessness as "primary homelessness" — sometimes called "sleeping rough" or "rooflessness". But researchers say "red dust homelessness", the term for the situation Ms Hulshoff experienced, is accounting for a growing number of cases. In the mining and gas-dominated Pilbara, where company-supplied housing is often the norm for families, separation and divorce can cause instability. "If you're not employed by that company, or even if you are, then there are very few housing options for you if you want to separate," said Curtin University professor of social work Donna Chung. "There is really limited accommodation, particularly if people are living in houses in small communities. "So if you separate or you are evicted from your accommodation, then there's actually very little option for you." In Ms Hulshoff's case, it was a combination of a close friend and luck that prevented her and her children from sleeping in her car or returning to the prospect of more violence at home. "I was driving out of my driveway asking [a friend] if we — myself and two kids — could come to her house and stay," Ms Hulshoff said. She stayed with her friend for a week before a real estate company expedited a rental home for her — something she said was a stroke of luck. "It was by chance that one of the real estate agents was a past client of mine and she advocated for me," she said. Professor Chung said this "secondary" homelessness was common in regional WA. "There's a group of people who are almost always at risk of homelessness," she said. "They might have moved into a friend's place, or a family member's place, in crisis and then stayed there because they haven't been able to move out." The Salvation Army's Danielle Black, who coordinates the charity's Doorways program in Karratha, said the region's homelessness was hidden. "The amount of times that I've heard the comment, 'But we don't have homelessness in the Pilbara.' We do," she said. "The last family that we worked with had 18 [people] in a three-bedroom house. Ms Black said there were added layers of complexity for women and Aboriginal people. She said affording stable accommodation in an area with acute housing challenges was a key issue. "In relationship breakdowns, particularly when there's family and domestic violence, you know you need to act quite quickly." Despite the challenges, Ms Black said the region had some "fantastic" services, including the expansion of the women's refuge in Karratha late last year. The WA government recently reaffirmed a $5.8 billion commitment to address housing and homelessness across the state. A state government spokesperson said it had an election commitment to develop a new Safe at Home service in Karratha and had recently funded a similar service in Port Hedland. The government also funds four homelessness services in the Pilbara region and provides recurrent funding for four family and domestic violence refuges in Port Hedland, Newman, Karratha and Roebourne.
