As he celebrated his birthday with his family in Gaza on October 6, 2023, Muhannad Youssef had no idea it would herald the start of a horrendous year that would uproot him and leave his parents and siblings fearing for their lives.
In Australia since May, Mr Youssef, his wife and their three children have been staying in Sydney with family members.
They tried to throw him a small birthday party earlier this month but he refused.
"How can I when there's no joy anymore?" he told AAP.
"I remember (on) the eve of 7 October ... our whole family was gathered around, all happy, and then the next morning, things changed.
"We entered that day not knowing what would happen and we are still living its after-effects."
The cataclysmic events began hours after Mr Youssef's 36th birthday when Hamas-led militants launched a large-scale attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
Israel responded with a full aerial and ground assault on Gaza, a continuing conflict that has now killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children, and resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis.
Mr Youssef worked as a child speech therapist with UNRWA, the lead United Nations humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees, in the densely-populated coastal enclave for more than a decade.
On Monday, Israel passed a law that will soon ban the aid group from operating in the country - a move condemned by UN officials who said it would impede their critical work supplying aid to millions of people in Gaza.
Mr Youssef and his young family have endured a harrowing journey, fleeing one area of Gaza for another for several months before sleeping in tents in Rafah, a town in southern Gaza neighbouring Egypt that was home to a border crossing destroyed by Israeli forces in May.
"We walked 12 kilometres in front of Israeli forces and tanks, seeing littered corpses everywhere," Mr Youssef said.
"We saw a man stripped naked and taken as a hostage right in front of us.
"The whole way you're seeing a charred corpse or a burnout car and you're trying to protect your kids.
"I was carrying my three-year-old son on my shoulders."
Amid the dire situation, including his family surviving lethal white phosphorous bombs, Mr Youssef continued to work with UNRWA.
More than 230 of the agency's staff have been killed in the past year, including several of Mr Youssef's colleagues.
"At any moment you're expecting death," he said.
"Not one square inch in Gaza was safe."
Mr Youssef's relative Mohamed Munzer, 21, arrived in Australia on Valentine's Day this year.
"There was a lack of hope before the war in the first place," Mr Munzer said.
"It was decades in the making, feeling trapped and occupied.
"Even though I've adjusted slowly, I felt scared going outside for the first few weeks in Australia because I was so traumatised from sleeping with one eye open for several months."
About 1300 people from Gaza have managed to flee to Australia on tourist visas since Israel launched its assault.
Gaza Australian Program founder Mahmoud Kaskeen has been instrumental in bringing several families from the war-torn territory to Australia, including his nephew Mr Munzer and his relative Mr Youssef.
The Gaza-born, Sydney-based engineer, who worked with the Australian army for several years, has been on the frontline helping to provide newly-arrived families accommodation, food and access to medical services.
The federal government has been providing three-year temporary humanitarian visas with work and study rights to people evacuating Gaza since early-October.
"We are part-and-parcel of Australian society so when we're bringing our families here that's our right as Australians," Mr Kaskeen said.
With several relatives and friends in Gaza, Mr Kaskeen is particularly concerned about his brother in the north which has been cut off by Israeli forces for months.
Some 95 people were killed in a strike in north Gaza on Wednesday which the US described in a rare condemnation as a "horrifying incident".
Weeks before Israel launched its assault, Mr Kaskeen visited Gaza for the first time since leaving 20 years ago - and said even then, he could see the desperation.
"Life there is not valid for a human and I'm talking before the war because of the siege and the occupation itself," he said.
"I want people to pay attention to what's going on there because it's a disaster."
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