GazaPalestinian teenager Maisa al-Ghandour had big dreams of becoming a doctor or a teacher until she was blinded nearly two weeks ago in an Israeli attack in Gaza.
“Now I want to die. We no longer live a life in Gaza; we just wait to die, our lives have become death,” said Maisa, 14.
Maisa was injured in an Israeli artillery attack on the Eilabun high school in the town of Al-Karara, east of the Gaza city of Khan Younis, on July 26, according to her family.
“We have shrapnel fragments in our chest, abdomen and face,” Maisa said, referring to the injuries also sustained by her sister Yara, 9, and brother Mohammed, 11.
“I hope we can go outside (Gaza) to receive treatment because there are no medicines here.”
The family had sought refuge in the school after being displaced several times during the 10-month-old Israeli offensive, which has killed some 39,600 Palestinians and wounded 91,535, according to Gaza health authorities.
The Israeli campaign was triggered by an Oct. 7 cross-border raid led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that left some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners dead and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli counts.
The day of the attack in Al-Karara began with some semblance of normality, according to the family.
“We were fine and we looked fine, we started playing with our friends, we went there and stayed at the school. They (the Israelis) fired two missiles at us and we stayed like that,” said Yara, who lost sight in one eye in the attack.
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– 2024-08-14 04:05:12
