Darwin refugee Raed Zannoun’s heartbreak over Israeli-Palestinian conflict

WARNING: CONFRONTING IMAGES. Raed Zannoun has lost several family members while the fate of dozens of other loved ones remains unknown. Read the Darwin refugee’s heartbreaking story of the Israeli-Palestinian war.

“I told my mum ‘I want to send you 100, 200 to buy some food’ and she said: ‘don’t send, (if) we buy food, we will never eat this food.

“She said ‘we will die soon’.”

These are some of the last words Raed Zannoun, a Palestinian refugee living in Darwin, heard from his mother.

While he could still contact relatives, Raed learned that several family members including children had been killed by Israeli F-16 air strikes.

He doesn’t know the exact number of family members killed, but estimates it could be up to 20.

The 38-year-old lost contact with loved ones shortly after power and communication outages hit Gaza, leaving him with little way of knowing whether his mother, two sons, and the rest of his family and friends were safe.

Hannah, Mahmoud, Saja, Shatha, Yassin Zannoun, all children, have died in the war. Picture: Supplied

“My cousin and his five kids (died), and another three cousins as well,” he said.

“Some of them three years (old), some four, some one year.

“Another cousin, she 16 and her brother 17 as well die.”

Raed said his son was the only person he had been able to contact in the past few days.

“He messaged me and said ‘Dad, please forgive me. Maybe I’ll die soon.”

Palestinian refugee Raed Zannoun, who now lives in Darwin, shared his story of family stuck in Gaza's Rafah camp. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Raed fled his war-torn homeland and made it to Australia by boat, settling in Darwin in 2013.

Today he sits in his inner-city apartment, with live coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian war playing minute-by-minute updates from the other side of the world.

Raed’s family lives in the Rafah refugee camp, which lies at the gateway of the Palestine and Egypt border and has come under attack in recent days.

Many family members, including his mother Alia, have had to take shelter in the Fatima Al-Khatib School.

Raed Zannoun's mother Alia with other family members taking shelter in the Fatima Al-Khatib School. Picture: Supplied

“I’m very sad, seven days I didn’t sleep, all the time (watching) the news,” he said.

“I seen the news that Israeli attack on schools, many kids are (staying) in the schools.

“The schools are not safe, the hospitals are not safe.

“Israeli bombed the border between Gaza and Egypt … if any trucks come in with food to help Palestinians, they will attack.

“There’s not enough food and (they) have no money as well, Gaza are very poor people. No healthy water, no electricity, and nothing is safe.”

Raed said the world should remember the kids being killed in the conflict.

“Kids have no guns … they were sleeping in their house and they die,” he said.

“Not all Gaza or Palestinian (are) Hamas, not all Hamas are Palestinian.”

When asked how he had been spending the past few days, not knowing his family’s fate, Raed only said “I pray”.

“I pray very much to stop the war,” he said.

“We’ve never lived in peace. I wish Australia to help with peace.”