Gaza girl orphaned in Israeli strike rebuilds her life with severe burns

Elham Abu Hajjaj’s mother held her and prayed over her Gaza City home, which was the last thing Elham remembers.

According to Abu Hajjaj, she discovered herself in a hospital with a machine on her stomach and “whole body trembling” when she awoke.

She said, “My body was completely burned when I touched it.” I asked the doctor where my father and mother were when he spoke to me. He didn’t respond to my question.

Both her parents were killed in the Israeli attack in Gaza City’s al-Saffaweh neighborhood, leaving Abu Hajjaj, who is nine years old, with third-degree burns.

She is not the only victim of Israel’s heinous conflict in Gaza. According to an estimate made in September by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 42, 000 people, or about 2 percent of Gaza’s population, have experienced “life-changing” injuries. One-third of them are children, or so.

Major burns are among the most prevalent injuries the WHO has documented involving more than 3, 350 people. The organization continued, “Children are clearly disproportionately affected.” Children, the majority of whom were under five years old, were among the 70% of those who had burn surgery in Gaza, and many of them were victims of bomb blasts.

As I scroll through photos of her neck, arm, and leg with significant scarring, Abu Hajjaj said, “Oh God, look at these wounds, they are very bad wounds,” I say to myself when I look in the mirror. “I have wounds on both my hand and here,” he said.

She still struggled to comprehend the passing of her parents. She kept telling herself that they must be alive even when her grandfather said they were waiting for her in paradise.

She said, “I finally realized they were not when my grandfather moved me to live with him.” When I realized that my parents and mother had passed away, I began crying.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported in April that more than 39, 000 children in Gaza have lost one or both of their parents, with about 17, 000 of those who have lost their parents since Israel started its occupation in Gaza in October 2023.

Abu Hajjaj currently resides with her grandparents and other survivors’ relatives, including her brother.

She claimed that when she realized her brother was still alive, she felt “some joy” inside the family home, which was encircled by rubble from the neighborhood.

My grandmother, my aunt, and my grandfather were also there. They are by my side, she said. I was moved by my brother’s passing, but I also felt sad for my parents and my mother.

The young girl has since switched to drawing to express her grief over the deaths of her parents and her childhood home.

She said, “It helps me forget everything that happened.” The house that was destroyed was the last drawing I did, according to the artist.

However, she chose not to leave her final state.

According to Abu Hajjaj, “I rebuilt it in the picture and planted a swing and a tree.” Because my father had planted a tree, I drew the tree.