834: Yousef and the Fourth Move
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Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Yusuf Amash has been a master of good timing and good luck. We destroyed that of him a few months ago, and we remind you for a minute of who he is, and now, capably, he got his family from place to place. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. Yusuf let his home on October 8th, because he was afraid that Jibalya where his farm was going to be bombed. And the next day, October 9th, Jibalya was bombed. As the war moved, he moved a second time, down south, to a city called Hanunis. Then Israel dropped leaflets from the sky, telling everybody to evacuate Hanunis immediately, to get safety further south in Rafa. Yusuf packed up the car that day, his wife Manal, his kids, his mom, and made his third move. And this is around the time that he started having conversations with one of our producers here, Hana Jafih Wal. It's Hana that he knew his sisters were in Hanunis, needed also to go to Rafa. And to get weedling, arguing, pleading, making promises, wearing them down, and they still did not move. Until an airstrike hit the building next to them, terrifying, right? Yusuf raced to where they were. And as soon as they saw each other, Yusuf and his sisters shared their relief by being exactly how they always are with each other. The first thing I said today when I met them, there is no discussion we are leaving. So you didn't, like, hug them and cry and say, "I'm so glad you survived." You said, get in the car. No, we have a different type of relation. I don't, it's not about talking. I was laughing, you should have died. I should be in the morgue now. I was like, this is how I'm with my sisters. And did they laugh? What did they say, man? And Hadi was like, you know, actually, they would start to give me orders quickly. You need to talk to our cousin, imagine, because he was supposed to, you need to invite him. Also, go to our auntie line, because if they want to-- Finally, he took his sisters to safety in Rafa in a tent camp that he built for them. And this is back in December. Every time Yusuf's tent camp of extended family in Rafa grew to 60 people, with the use of managing it as mayor, repairman, caterer, driver, health care provider.
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