‘Di WhatsApp group dey silent, everybody don die’

Na 04:00 and Ahmed bin wake wit one start. Usually deep sleeper, e bin feel say something dey wrong.

E bin don dey check im family WhatsApp group religiously since di start of di war.

E dey difficult to contact im papa and siblings from London, wia e dey live, since Israel cut off electricity to di Gaza Strip. But two days earlier e bin get one message from im sister Aya.

Her house don dey damaged by bomb. "Di windows and doors inside di house all don break," A bin text on di group. "But di important tin be say God save us. We all dey fine."

"Di house fit dey fixed," Ahmed bin text back. "Di important tin be say you dey safe."

Aya and her four children bin move to dia papa house for Deir al-Balah for di middle of Gaza.

Dat night, wen Ahmed wake up, di family group bin dey quiet. E fit see messages from several oda pipo, wey bin dey sent and den deleted.

E bin call one friend for Gaza to see wetin dey up and dat na wen e bin find out say im family don die.

Since di beginning of di war, Ahmed and im flatmates from Gaza bin don dey live for remote kind of hell. Dia phones be stores of destruction and death. Every day dem dey hear say one neighbour, one friend, or pesin wey dem go school wit don dey killed. But e neva believe say di war fit come directly for im family.

Dia home dey for di middle of Deir al-Balah for one area wey neva dey targeted bifor.

"I tink say, e be scary time for dem but dem go dey okay," e tok. "Dat na wetin I bin tink."

In all, 21 pipo dey killed wen di family home dey flattened by one airstrike - im father, three of im sisters, two brodas and 15 of dia children.

Di list of di dead dey so long sotay Ahmed stumble as e list di names and ages of each pesin for im family wey dem kill.

Of di children, im thirteen-year-old nephew Eslam na di eldest and di one Ahmed sabi best. Ahmed na teenager and dey live for home wen dem born Eslam. Im mama bin look afta Eslam while im sister dey work, so Ahmed often dey help to feed and change Eslam as baby.

As Eslam grow older, e bin tok say e wan be like im uncle. E be di top of im class, Ahmed tok and work hard for English so e go fit also come to di UK.

Eslam bin dey killed alongside im little sisters - Dima wey be 10, Tala wey be nine, Nour wey be five and Nasma wry be two, as well as im cousins Raghad (age 13), Bakr (age 11), girls Eslam and Sarah wey both be nine, Mohamed and Basema wey be eight and Abdullah and Tamim wey be six.

Di last time Ahmed bin see di kids be by video call. E bin just get bonus for work and, as per family tradition, e bin promise im nieces and nephews treat.

"Dey all bin tok say dey wan go to di beach and rent one chalet and get food and dance togeda and enjoy," e tok. So, e bin hire one and buy dem dinner and snacks.

Di children bin call am from di beach dat day, dey fight over di phone to tok. Now, 15 of dem don die.

Of Ahmed nine siblings, na just imself and two sisters remain.

Days afta di attack, Ahmed bin post one picture of each of di children online, including three-year-old Omar. Den e get one call from im surviving sista to tell am say Omar dey alive. "Dat na di happiest moment for my life, ever," e tok.

Omar bin dey bed wit im mama and papa, Shimaa and Muhammed wen di bomb fall. Muhammed dey killed but Shimaa and Omar miraculously survive.

Di only oda pesin wery dem pull out alive na Ahmed 11-year-old niece Malak. She get third degree burns on 50 percent of her body.

Wen I meet Ahmed, e bin show me one foto of Malak for di hospital, her body dey entirely covered for bandages. At first, I bin mistake her for boy sake of say her hair dey short. E long bifor Ahmed say, but e fit don burn for di fire.

Malak papa no dey house wen e dey hit and e dey alive. But im wife and two oda children dey killed. Wen Ahmed bin message am to ask how e dey do e bin reply: "One body, no soul."

Dat time, phone signal from Gaza bin dey entirely cut off as Israel escalate dia attack, Ahmed bin no fit contact anyone. Wen di signal dey reconnected two days later, e bin learn say Malak don die.

Wit medical supplies wey dey reduce to nothing, she bin need to dey taken off di ICU unit wen more urgent case bin come in. She bin dey inside lot of pain. "I bin die one hundred times every day," her papa bin tell Ahmed, as e watch di eldest and last of im three children fade away.

Just bifo di communication blackout Ahmed bin also find out say im uncle house don dey hit. E still no sure who dey killed dia.

We bin speak to three pipo wey don lost more dan 20 family members each for Gaza. One of dem, Darwish Al-Manaama don lost 44 members of im family. Dey dey deal wit grief on one incomprehensible scale.

Yara Sharif, one architect and academic for London, bin send me photos of her aunt family home wey dey destroyed for one Israeli strike one week into di war.

"Na very beautiful house", Yara tok, "one beautiful mansion wit one big courtyardfor di middle". Na family home wia sons build flats for dia own families on top of dia parents' flat - one tradition wey mean multiple generations dey wiped out for one fall swoop.

For dis strike 20 pipo dey killed, Yara aunt and uncle, her two cousins and dia 10 children, as well as six members of di extended family.

Some of dia bodies dey pulled from di rubble and dey bin appear as numbers on di list of dead released by di Hamas-run Ministry of Health. Yara bin send us screenshot of di list wit one rough red mark by each name. On di right-hand side of di list, dia ages - Sama be 16, Omar and Fahmy be 14 year old twins, Abdul be 13, Fatima 10, Obaida seven, cousins Aleman and Fatima both five, Youssef be four and Sarah and Anas be three.

Yara get two cousins left. Dey ask make dem no dey named, worried by one unsubstantiated rumour say those wey speak to di media dey targeted.

Di sisters dey different parts of Gaza and no fit reach each oda to hold funeral or grieve. And anyway, as Yara cousin message her: "Muhammed body and Mama and di two children still dey under di rubble."

No enof fuel to run excavator machines for Gaza and any wey dey work, prioritise rescuing those wey dey alive.

On Friday, as I siddon wit Ahmed dey watch di news, di list of di dead bin scroll down di screen. I bin ask am if im family dey on am . "Only 12 of dem," e tok. Di oda nine neva recover yet.

Last week im oldest sister, wey bin dey her own home during di bombing, bin go visit di ruins. But she bin tell Ahmed say she no stay long sake of say she no fit stand di smell of rotting bodies.

Ahmed neva speak to either of im sisters since Friday. Dia phones no work, and e no know wetin don happun to dem.

E no fit find di words for English to describe wetin e bin dey feel since di bombing, like im heart no longer dey im chest. Crying dey pointless, e tok, sake of say e change nothing.

And e dey restless: "I feel like say I no fit stand still. I no fit sit still. I no fit sleep for night."

"Nothing you fit do to stop dis feeling."

Among di dead be Ahmed youngest broda Mahmoud. E bin use to work for di same NGO as Ahmed, We No Be Numbers, wey dey train young Palestinians to tell dia stories to di world.

Mahmoud just dey offered scholarship to do masters for Australia. One week into di war e bin tell Ahmed say e no wan go, say e dey so angry wit how di west dey react to di bombardment of Gaza. E bin post for Twitter. "My heart no fit handle dis anymore. We dey dey massacred." One week later e dey killed for im papa house.

Speaking of im papa, Ahmed say e be di kindest man e don ever know. E bin work hard dey drive taxi and work for construction to build one home and educate im family. E bin listen obsessively to di news and believe di only solution to dis conflict na one-state solution - Jews and Palestinians dey live alongside each oda for peace.

But wen Ahmed tink of im only surviving nephew e wonder, wetin Omar go believe? Afta dis war don take so many pipo wey e love.