A Maltese-Palestinian woman who lost seven family members in Gaza in just one day has opened up about the extreme pain she’s feeling right now… and why the world needs to wake up and see what’s really happening the war-torn region before it’s too late.

Speaking at a pro-Palestine protest in Valletta outside of parliament this afternoon, the young woman, Hanan, told the gathered crowd she had just received “very bad news” just one hour before the protest.

“About 40 of our friends died in one bombardment,” Hanan said, trying to hold back tears. “And yesterday, from our family, seven people died at once.”

Hanan’s father is from Gaza. Yesterday, seven of her cousins all died in one single attack. “They died together because they slept all huddled together, waiting to die,” the young woman told Lovin Malta, breaking into tears.

“I can’t express how tired I am,” she continued. “I’ve been watching the news for a whole week, just to find out that the rest of my family is dead. I came here because I don’t have anything else to give them except to stand with them here.”

“The pain I’m feeling right now, I can’t describe it, no one can feel it.”