Malala Yousafzai calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and tells the heartbreaking story of a Palestinian girl
The world’s youngest Nobel Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, has highlighted the plight of young Palestinian girls suffering the consequences of Israel’s ongoing assault on the besieged enclave.
The education activist shared on Instagram the story of a young girl who lost her hair due to the stress and agony caused by the Israeli military attack on Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire to protect innocent people.
“This is the trauma Palestinian girls are enduring under Israel’s bombing – no peace, no school. We need a ceasefire now and we must protect the lives of these children,” she wrote.
Malala has repeatedly raised her voice for the rights of Palestinian children and condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza, especially on educational institutions.
Eight-year-old Sama Tabil — in an interview with Al Jazeera — She spoke in detail about how she once loved her hair and how she is now ridiculed for being bald. With tears in her eyes, the little girl expressed her desire to travel abroad to receive treatment so that she could “be beautiful again.”
In the heartbreaking video, the little girl said that she was a good student and did her hair every day before going to school.
The girl was displaced with her family after Israeli forces attacked their camp in Rafah. Sama said she and her family were sleeping when the attack took place and woke up to gunfire and bomb explosions.
A few days after the incident, her hair began to fall out. Sama’s mother said she saw corpses and ruins after the bombing, which traumatized her.
“The constant fear of attacks and lack of security has rubbed salt into the wound,” she said.
She said the deadly attacks by Israeli forces robbed Sama of her childhood. In the Khan Younis camp, other girls tease her, calling her bald and a cancer patient, the eight-year-old said. “It really hurts,” she added.
Due to a lack of medicines, doctors cannot treat them in the besieged area.
UNICEF warns that children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from a mental health crisis.