Missouri student hangs onto words from mother in Gaza: 'I don't know if we are going to stay...

A St. Louis University graduate student is terrified that her family in Gaza will not survive the Israel-Hamas war. She said Gazans are familiar with death and destruction because of their decades-long struggle for an independent Palestinian state, but this war is more devastating than other recent conflicts.
Intimaa AbuHelou is familiar with death and destruction. She saw her first dead body in the seventh grade, while living in the Gaza Strip.

“We were taking final tests. We were excited that it was going to be the final exam and then we're going to summer vacation, and the bombing started,” said AbuHelou, 27. “We had to evacuate school and we were running in the streets, and there were a lot of dead bodies in the streets.”

Now a graduate student at St. Louis University, AbuHelou said the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas is more terrifying than any of the previous wars she lived through in Gaza.