<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Jawaher al-Aqraa says it will be a “miracle” if she survives Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, but in the meantime, she is singing to “block out” the roar of fighter jets over the Palestinian enclave.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The 28-year-old English teacher is one of hundreds of thousands of Gazans who have fled or lost their homes as Israel’s air raids have intensified since the October 7 Hamas attacks.</div><div><br></div><div>Now she is with her brother in the Deir al-Balah refugee camp where thousands of families live in fear of air strikes.</div><div><br></div><div>The 28-year-old English teacher is one of hundreds of thousands of Gazans who have fled or lost their homes as Israel’s air raids. —AFP</div><div>“I have survived wars and a million escalations,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>“With this war, I have the impression that all I do is await my turn to die. If I survive, it will be a miracle.”</div><div><br></div><div>AFP first spoke with Aqraa last year as part of a project on young people across the Middle East and how they use culture to counter crisis.</div><div><br></div><div>She said music is her “escape route” from the daily trials faced by the 2.4 million inhabitants of the coastal enclave blockaded by Israel and Egypt.</div><div><br></div><div>“Sometimes I try to block out the noise of the shelling and drones by singing, but the strikes become louder so I stop,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>“I recite the shahada (the profession of faith) and then I start again.”</div><div><br></div><div>‘Mental balance’</div><div>Aqraa said the scenes she has witnessed in Gaza “have filled me with anger”.</div><div><br></div><div>“All I can do is sing to express my feelings and those of people who have lost their families and their homes. My mental balance comes from music and singing.”</div><div><br></div><div>The young woman said three of her friends had been killed in Israeli air strikes.</div><div><br></div><div>“This war cannot be described with words. It cannot be compared to what happened before.”</div><div><br></div><div>Surrounded by applauding children and her brother, Aqraa plays the violin and sings a song in English composed by friends.</div><div><br></div><div>Aqraa says the loss of friends to Israeli air strikes has left her angry but her music has allowed her to restore her “mental balance”. - AFP</div><div>“I am invincible, unbreakable, unstoppable. They knock me down and I get up again,” she sang. “I was born to be free. I am Palestinian.”</div><div><br></div><div>Speaking afterwards, she said she wanted to travel and sing to “spread the Palestinian cause”, reports AFP</div><div><br></div><div>“The bombing has not affected my determination,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>