Israel-Hamas war rages as crisis in Gaza deepens

Ibrahim Dahman and his family entered the hotel room and looked out toward the blue of the Mediterranean Sea. His two young sons were excited to spot a swimming pool below their window, but this was no vacation.

“But they don’t strike… they don’t strike hotels, right?” Dahman’s 11-year-old son, Zaid, asked nervously, as the family took the elevator down a short time later.

Exchanging an apprehensive look with his 30-year-old wife, Rasha, Dahman replied: “They don’t strike hotels, no.” A gentle white lie from a father trying to reassure his boys as the explosions, once distant, seemed now to be getting closer.

Born and raised in Gaza, the 36-year-old CNN journalist has grown accustomed to war with Israel. Palestinians have watched as Israeli strikes have battered the strip on several occasions in the years since Israeli forces withdrew from the territory in 2005, often in response to Hamas rocket fire. Fighting frequently breaks out between Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza, including the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

But for Dahman, this time feels different. While he wants to continue his work telling the stories of people in Gaza, he is now grappling with the reality of keeping his family safe at the same time.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians, including Dahman and his family, have been caught in the escalating crisis. Unlike across the border in Israel, there are no warning sirens, bomb shelters or high-tech Iron Dome defense system to intercept projectiles in Gaza.

Dahman has not stopped working since he was awoken by “the sounds of continuous rocket fire” from Gaza when Hamas launched its initial attack just over a week ago, signaling the start of what US President Joe Biden has called the largest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.

After filming the rockets whistling in the skies above his home, he immediately headed to the CNN office.

Situated in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, the office has been something of a safe haven for Dahman. It was in this area he began his career in journalism in 2005 when he covered the Israeli withdrawal from the coastal enclave.

The office building sits in what Dahman called a “beautiful, upscale neighborhood in which all press offices and foreign and international institutions are located.” The neighborhood was considered one of the “quiet areas.”

But by Monday, things weren’t so quiet.

Read more: CNN journalist details his family’s flight south from Gaza City