On October 6 2023, Palestinian karate champion Mais Elbostami went to bed thrilled after winning a competition in the Gaza Strip. She awoke the next day to a different world.

“I’d won first place,” the shy 18-year-old told AFP from a Cairo suburb, where her family now lives after escaping the fighting and where she is training in the hope of one day representing her country internationally.

She said she “hadn’t even hung up the medals” she won on October 6 before Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Immediately, she and her family fled south from their home in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel launched a relentless retaliatory military campaign.

When the family made it to the Egyptian capital in April, Elbostami had two things on her mind: making sure relatives back home were safe and getting back to her karate training.

She has a long way to go, and her first stop on that journey is Egypt’s own national championships in August. “It’s a tough challenge because Egyptian karate athletes have historically outperformed their Palestinian counterparts,” she said. “But it will bring my level up, too.”