GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Since the outbreak of the Russian war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, Svetlana al-Farra, a Ukrainian doctor who lives in Khan Yunis (south of the Gaza Strip) spends all her time feeling tense. Her mother, who is in her 70s, and her sister live in Kharkiv, which, like other Ukrainian cities, is being assaulted by Russian warplanes.
The war was a great shock to Svetlana, who is the daughter of a Russian mother and Ukrainian father, and she is now terrified of power cuts and internet outages where her family lives. “This is Ukraine’s first war," she told Al-Monitor. "Everybody is afraid. I wrote to them yesterday to come to Gaza.”