Yousef

Yousef

In December, producer Chana Joffe-Walt reached Yousef Hammash in Gaza. In a remarkable series of phone calls, Yousef takes Chana through his efforts every day to build tents for his extended family, construct a bathroom, find food, and—most importantly—convince his sisters and their families to move from an apartment in Khan Younis to tents in Rafah. Yousef—through resourcefulness, humor, and sheer badgering—eventually convinced them, and they fled under bombing, to Rafah.

Yousef and Chana continued to talk over months. He built and managed a growing tent camp of sixty-plus family members in Rafah. He made plans for his sister, Aseel, to deliver her first baby. Then, the Israeli government announced plans to invade Rafah, and Yousef faced his most difficult move yet.