When Iman Ma’arfi set foot in the Gaza Strip for the first time, she carried nothing but a first aid kit and heavy questions about the meaning of Israel’s blockade and genocide. She had an idea of what it would be like in theory, but she soon discovered that what war does is not limited to bodies, but extends to affect souls in an incurable way.

The French nurse of Maghreb origin found herself in a reality where time is measured by the number of wounded and the breaths left. At the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, she spent two weeks amid the screams of the wounded, the smell of blood, power cuts, and a severe shortage of medicines – even basic painkillers.

Israel punish nurse for speaking out

In a television interview, Iman said that she used to tell those around her:

The pain here is different… I’ve never seen anything like it before.

She described how children had their limbs amputated without morphine, mothers lay on the floor of the corridors waiting for a turn that might never come, and doctors continued to work with hands trembling from exhaustion rather than fear.

Iman was not a journalist, and she did not carry a camera. But, she still left Gaza carrying vivid testimonies that could not be hidden. She spoke of children waiting silently for death, and of wounded people who did not know if they would survive another minute. When her testimony was made public, it resonated widely in France, but at the same time it provoked clear political anger.

In September 2024, French police raided her home. She was searched, interrogated and detained for hours in front of her family, without any clear charges. It was clear that her only ‘crime’ was that she had seen Gaza and to have spoken about what she had seen.

‘Cruel’

Despite this, Iman decided to return to Gaza. She re-prepared her papers, submitted her entry request, and waited a long time for permission from authorities in Israel. Days of silence and anticipation passed until the list of those allowed to enter was released. She read it over and over, but did not find her name.

She received no official rejection, no explanation, no communication. Only a silent ban, because the occupation simply does not know the meaning of humanity.

She said the ban was cruel, because in Gaza there were wounded people whose faces she knew, and children she had left behind who were waiting for her return. But she did not break down. Instead, she declared clearly:

I will not despair… I will try again and again.

Iman Ma’arfi did not carry a weapon, did not belong to a faction, and did not seek fame. She was a witness.

And the occupation knows very well that the testimony of witnesses, in times of war, is more dangerous than bullets.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

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