RAFAH, GAZA—Saying he had imagined the day since the moment they were born, local Gazan man Ibrahim Awad told reporters Friday that he hoped to live long enough to see his children eat dinner. “As a parent, all I want to do is be there for my kids and, if I’m lucky, survive long enough to watch them find a handful of lentils or rice,” said Awad, adding that he dreamed of experiencing the big moments in his children’s lives, like when a piece of bread fell off an aid truck, or when they were able to scrounge together a few ounces of clean water or animal feed. “Right now, my son is very young, but if I can just hold out for the next four to five hours, I can watch him go from starving and on the brink of death to medically malnourished. If I die after that, I’ll be a happy man.” At press time, Awad said that although it was a bit of a pipe dream, he hoped his son could survive this war and live long enough to be killed by a different violent conflict.
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