we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Honoring the memory of my friend Yousef Dawas

He was brimming with talent and aiming for an overseas scholarship when an Israeli missile killed him one year ago. 
A man touching his head to a horse.
Yousef Dawas. Photo from his Instagram page

“My hero is me after 10 years.” These were the words my friend Yousef Dawas had written in his Facebook bio, a glimpse of the future he dreamed of.

But that future was brutally shattered on October 14, 2023, when an Israeli missile struck his home in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, killing him and his family. Yousef at that moment was only 20 years old.

He was a person brimming with ideas, talents, and ambition. He loved playing the guitar, reading books, and riding horses and he was an activist and volunteer in many clubs and charities in Gaza.  Each time I read those words again on his Facebook page, they haunt me, a bittersweet reminder of the future he once imagined but will never see. His life, with all its potential despite the hardships he was enduring in Gaza, was ripped away from him far too soon.

Yousef Dawas's facebook page with his motto, "My hero is me after 10 years."
Yousef’s Facebook bio.

He aspired for overseas study

I remember returning to Gaza last year after completing my first year of master’s degree studies in Tunisia. It was the summer break, and I had come to visit my family, when the Rafah crossing with Egypt was still open. One evening, I met Yousef at a café by the sea that had become a refuge for people of Gaza from the random violence of the Israeli siege, even before this genocidal war.

We talked about life, our studies, and our dreams. I said to him, “Yousef, you’re studying psychology, and you’ve always talked about wanting to study abroad. What if I help you come to Tunisia to pursue your postgraduate studies there?” He smiled and replied, “Thank you, my dear friend Majd, but I’m developing my skills to secure a Chevening scholarship so I can study in the UK.”

I wasn’t surprised by his answer. I knew my friend Yousef was always reaching for lofty goals and working tirelessly to turn them into reality. I truly believe he would have succeeded and been awarded that prestigious scholarship if he hadn’t been struck down by an Israeli missile.

Imed Romdhani is a Tunisian professor, based in the UK, who has launched an initiative in partnership with Scottish charities and the United Nations Development Program. His initiative aims to provide 5,000 free subscription licenses for online learning platforms such as edX and Coursera to Palestinian students in Gaza, to help expand their access to education as most of the universities in the strip were destroyed by the Israeli army.

Recently, Romdhani wrote in a post on his Facebook page, “All pride and honor to the people of Gaza. Despite the war, genocide, and displacement, they continue to earn prestigious certificates from the edX platform. We are proud to support 1,000 students from Gaza who are studying for free on this platform.” I am sure, if Yousef hadn’t been killed in the first week of the war, he would be one of those students now, pursuing certificates in psychology, the field he loved and wanted for his career.

He dreamed of travel

Yousef dreamed of visiting Palestinian cities, something he wished for even more than seeing Paris or the Maldives. But being born in Gaza means being deprived of that right. I shared this dream with Yousef.  While I was studying in Tunisia, my classmates would often ask me to describe Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

“What does it really look like?” they would ask. I would always reply, “I’m like you. I’ve never seen it in person, only in pictures.” For us Palestinians, some dreams are simple, but as easy as it may seem to any outsider with a foreign passport who can visit Jerusalem at any time, it’s not the same for Palestinians, especially Gazans. Even our simplest dreams, like traveling the short 77km from Gaza to Jerusalem, feel out of reach. It’s as difficult as realizing any dream while living under occupation.

He was a powerful writer

Yousef was also a writer for We Are Not Numbers (WANN), this website. This project amplifies the voices of young Palestinians, particularly from Gaza, helping them share their personal stories and struggles under occupation. They write in English to the Western world, aiming beyond reduction to mere statistics in the news.

He contributed a powerful story entitled Who Will Pay for the 20 Years We Lost? In his story, Yousef reflects on the destruction of his family’s orchard by an Israeli missile strike in May 2022. The orchard, which had once produced olives, oranges, clementines, loquats, guavas, lemons, and pomegranates, was turned into dust after the attack. Yousef describes how this loss harshly impacted both him and his father, as years of nurturing the trees vanished before their eyes.

Yousef shared how he tried to calm his father by saying, “The land will recover, and with the support of the United Nations, we can replant the trees we lost.” His father replied, “Even if someone helps us repair the damage and plants new trees, who will give me back the years I spent nurturing them and supporting their growth?”

I am so sorry to tell you, my friend Yousef, that even the UN workers themselves in Gaza are suffering and at risk. According to the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee, “The number of aid workers killed in Gaza in the past year is the highest ever in a single crisis.” Today, even UNRWA, the UN agency established to provide education, healthcare, and social services to Palestinian refugees, is facing significant challenges. Recently, Israel decided to seize the land in Jerusalem where the UNRWA headquarters is located, intending to construct 1,440 settlement units on the site.

A young man playing the guitar on a wooden beachfront walkway.
Yousef Dawas. Photo from his Instagram page

His luck turned

Yousef mentioned in his story for WANN that luck helped them survive one of the nights of Israeli bombardments, recounting how they felt and what they did as a family during that time: “That evening, we were all in our bedrooms, but as the bombardment grew fiercer and more frequent, we gathered for comfort in a communal room in the middle of the house. This provided a false sense of safety. Of course, we knew that we were not safe, but we’d rather die together than alone.” He added, “The bombardment in my neighborhood was intense, and we knew a rocket could hit our home at any moment.” He then mentioned “As luck would have it, no bombs hit the house.”

According to Doctors Without Borders, “Staying alive in Gaza is only a matter of luck.” In a 2022 Israeli attack on Gaza, Yousef and his family were lucky and managed to survive, but their orchard did not. One year later, luck was not on their side. An Israeli missile struck their home, killing my friend Yousef and more than 25 members of his family. Their dreams, like so many in Gaza, were lost in a moment.

Read tributes to Yousef.

A man touching his head to a horse.

recent

subscribe

get weekly emails with links to new content plus news about WANN