This morning, while driving along an average road on an ordinary day, I heard the testimony of three women caught up in the tragedy exploding between Gaza and Israel. The emotion in their voices was as raw as an open wound.

The first to be interviewed was a female journalist. When asked how she felt about her role in such a situation, she described a deep sense of responsibility. She said her role was to bear witness, to report what she found. It was she who described the situation as “… nightmare upon nightmare …”.

The second interview was with a grandmother whose community and family had been attacked. She said the knowledge of how close she had come to losing her own grandchildren had switched her peaceful DNA to one that fully supported Israel’s army. Voice shaking with grief she then spoke of her anguish at not knowing the whereabouts of her friends.

The third interview was from a video recording with a mother in Gaza where bombs were falling. The interview had been adapted for radio. She tried to describe the view from her apartment, the devastation, and went to open a window on to her neighbourhood to do so, but could not see anything and started to cough. “I cannot breathe …” she said.

I drove on – the agony in the voices stretching ahead of me down the ordinary road.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023