On a terrifying night, one of the nights of the last Israeli war on Gaza, the little girl wrote Zayta Al-Zabous with a red pen on a piece of paper and placed it under her pillow, saying in childish, innocent words, “Mama, my love, I am very, very scared. I want to wear Eid clothes so that I can’t be happy for them.”
Zina, who is no more than ten years old, concluded her letter to her mother, who believed that she was the last thing that linked her to life, “Your daughter Zina .. Palestine is free and Arab.”
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Zina, who is no more than ten years old, holds her letter to her mother (Al-Jazeera)
Zina told Al Jazeera Net, “I slept and did not imagine that I would survive until the morning from the incipient of the explosions caused by the Israeli air strikes on Gaza.”
Of the 255 Palestinians who were martyred during the 11 days of the Israeli war on Gaza, 67 children and 40 women were martyred, as well as about 1,950 wounded, including hundreds of children and women.
fear death
The bombing was severe in the vicinity of her house north of Gaza City, and Zina was trembling with fear when she decided to write a letter to her mother, saying, “I wrote the letter and was expecting to die at any moment.”
Zina and her mother visited the destroyed places and the scenes were horrific (Al-Jazeera)
They bombed houses over people’s heads, streets, mosques and everything. Many children were martyred, and I felt like I would die a martyr like them, says Zina.
On that night, when Zina wrote her touching letter to her mother, a neighbor received a phone call from the occupation army asking him to vacate his house because it was bombed, so Zina and her family went out with the residents of the area to escape death.
The hour was one after midnight, and Zina, her family and the neighbors remained in the street until the morning, and the targeted house was not bombed, and the next night the occupation army called again, asking for evacuation, and Zina’s mother told Al Jazeera Net, “All the residents of the area rushed towards the streets as if it was the Day of Resurrection, amid A state of extreme terror.”
Zina is happy because she is still alive, but at the same time she is sad for the martyred children (Al-Jazeera)
As soon as they were a few meters away from the targeted house, a reconnaissance plane bombed it with a missile, and a war fighter followed it with another missile, causing a huge boom. Zina’s mother hugged her child tightly, and she had just read her message, saying, “If it was in my hand, I would split my chest and hid it inside my heart.”
She added that there are no words to describe my feelings the moment I found the letter and read it, the explosions were everywhere, but I felt that it penetrated my heart, the mother did not find many words to relieve her child, and she said to her, “If we martyred our Eid with God in heaven It would be nicer.”
Nadine Abdel Latif (right) with children inside a shelter in an UNRWA school during the war (Al-Jazeera)
Coming back from the dead
After the war stopped, Zina insisted that her mother take her to the places that were bombed and destroyed, and she says, “The scenes were horrific, and I held Zina’s hand and looked at her for a long time, and thank God we were still alive.” In those moments, Zina’s mother realized how much pain stemmed from her words. her baby’s message.
According to specialized local and international institutions, the children of Gaza will suffer for long periods of time from the psychological effects of the horrific days of war.
“I am happy that the war is over and that I did not die, but I am very sad for the children who died under the missiles and under their destroyed homes,” says Zina.
In childish words, Zina said, “We have the right to live, we don’t want war, the occupation must keep us away, and the world must help us, we are innocent.”