A video of a barefoot girl carrying her injured sister after an Israeli bombing in Gaza recently went viral on social media.
Qamar, from 6 yearshas become a powerful image of the devastating reality in the Gaza Strip. His journey began when his younger sister, Sumaya, was hit by a car during the chaos generated by a bombing in the camp where they live.
“I picked her up and took her to al-Mawasi, which is far away,” says the Palestinian girl.
Her mother, who said she was moved by her daughter’s bravery, told BBC Arabic Service journalist Rehab Ismail: “It is very brave that she carried her sister to be treated, and that she carried her from the camp to the hospital and then back.”
Finding no help, Qamar walked for more than an hour with her sister in tow to return from the hospital to the tent where they live with their mother.
The video, recorded by journalist Alaa Hamouda, shows Qamar walking barefoot in the sun, with her sister injured on her back. “I’m exhausted, I’ve been carrying her for an hour, she can’t walk,” she is heard saying in the video.
This moment captures a part of a heartbreaking reality that affects thousands of families in Gaza.
Since Israel began its military offensive in Gaza on October 7 last year, at least 42,600 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 100,000 injured according to Gaza’s health ministry.
That day, an attack carried out by the Hamas organization against Israel had left nearly 1,200 dead and 251 hostages. Approximately 100 hostages remain held in Gaza.
A life marked by poverty and displacement
Qamar’s family is one of many who have been displaced, multiple times, within the Strip due to prolonged violence in the region.
They live in the al-Burij refugee campin central Gaza, where thousands of people are trying to survive in makeshift shelters, without access to basic supplies.
Human rights organizations have described the situation as critical, in which every day is a fight for survival.
Now that winter is approaching, Qamar’s mother fears that the fragile tent in which they live will not be able to withstand the rain and extreme cold.
“The cold is killing me and my children, I don’t even have a blanket to cover my daughters,” she said desperately.
It is estimated that around 1.9 million people have been displaced within Gaza and they depend on humanitarian aid, which arrives very sporadically and does not cover basic needs.
The suffering and resilience of Qamar and his family reflect the situation faced by thousands of families in the Gaza Strip, trapped in a decades-long conflict.
“I want my daughters to be like any girl. I want to see them go to university,” said Qamar’s mother.
She, like many other mothers in Gaza, faces the drama of raising her daughters in a place where wars and economic blockade They have limited access to education, health and basic resources.
Due to the conflict, fear and uncertainty have been part of the childhood of many Gazan children.
“I felt sorry because they were walking at noon under the sun without shoes, I picked them up 2 km from their camp,” journalist Hamouda told the BBC Arabic service, who, upon seeing the situation, decided to stop his car and take them. .
On social networks and the media, Qamar’s story has generated expressions of solidarity and calls for peace.
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