Mary Burbara awoke in Sydney in panic when she saw the Gaza church where her family was sheltering had been bombed in an Israeli airstrike.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
She frantically called them and felt relief when they picked up.
They escaped unscathed as they were in the hall next to the church where hundreds have been huddling for days as bombs rain down, rationing food and water supplies.
"Thank God they survived. What about the others? It's so disheartening and sad seeing all these innocent people killed?," she told AAP.
At least 18 people, including relatives of former US Congressman Justin Amash, were killed in the strike on the fourth-century St Porphyrios Greek Orthodox church.
"They're living one day at a time trying to survive," said Ms Burbara, who has been in Australia for six years.
Since the outbreak of the conflict earlier in October, the 33-year-old has found in solace in friends from an Arabic-speaking mothers group that had run from 2010 in Blacktown Hospital in western Sydney until the pandemic hit in 2020.
The Sudanese Arabic Pregnancy Care Clinic had expectant mothers from various refugee and migrant backgrounds.
The antenatal clinic was designed to serve the needs of the large Sudanese community but grew to take in other women, including from Syria.
The women, mostly of refugee background, gathered on a fortnightly basis where they shared resources in Arabic about birthing and pregnancy.
Its members have stayed in touch and Ms Burbara has had Syrian mothers from the group check in on her almost daily in recent weeks, bound by their own experiences of war and trauma.
"They're still my friends from that time and they've been ringing and supporting me because they understand what we're going through."
Nadia Dahlan, a group attendee originally from Gaza who moved to Australia five years ago, has had sleepless nights.
Having lived through four bombardment campaigns, she is acutely aware of the terror gripping Gaza.
The 28-year-old says this one is the worst in terms of mounting death toll and indiscriminate bombing.
"I started going when I was pregnant with my son four years ago until the day he was born. I was young, a new migrant, by myself and it was my first pregnancy so it was really useful to have someone guide me," she explained.
Ms Dahlan organically started sharing Arabic posters and materials produced at the hospital via WhatsApp to her friends and family in Gaza who were also pregnant.
"In Gaza, there isn't a specific group for expectant mothers, more of a general follow-up when you're pregnant with the doctor."
She visited Gaza in 2022 when she was pregnant with her second child.
The former medical engineer, who used to repair X-ray machines and CT scanners, said the targeting of hospitals and clinics has hit her hard knowing what her former colleagues are surviving.
"The feelings I have at the moment are hard to describe, seeing everything you grew up with destroyed," she said.
Washington DC-based advocacy group Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition has reported nearly 30 health workers killed and 16 health facilities damaged in the first week of the pummelling of the blockaded enclave.
"I'm expecting a call about my family being killed at any moment. We don't who is dead or alive anymore," Ms Dahlan said.
Australian Associated Press
