Gaza girl who feared losing her family, injured as loved ones die in Israeli airstrike

A young Palestinian girl, who once expressed fear of displacement and losing her loved ones amid the Israeli military offensive, was severely injured in an IDF airstrike, losing her entire family.

An old video of Jana Al-Zubda surfaced on social media, where she shared her fears about becoming a victim of the Israeli assault, unaware that her worst nightmare would soon become a reality.

In the video, Jana, visibly distressed, had said, “We are children. We are very tired from the war. We are scared and don’t know how to be alone.” 

She expressed her fear of being displaced every night due to the constant explosions, saying, “Anything could happen to me too.”

“We want to play, learn, and study more than this,” she said, wearing a keffiyeh.

Jana had hoped to 'escape' the war, yearning for happiness because, as she said, “we are still young.”

Now, Jana, who appeared distressed but safe in the old video, lies severely injured in a hospital, with medical professionals urgently calling for her evacuation for treatment. She is the sole survivor of her family.

Her tragic ordeal is not exceptional, as thousands of children in Gaza continue to endure similar horrors with no end in sight to the Israeli military offensive.

In Novemeber 2024, Al Jazeera shared a report detailing the most common names of the deceased children from A to Z, highlighting the profound human cost of the ongoing bombardment since October 7, 2023.

The report revealed that the ongoing genocide in Gaza has claimed the lives of 710 babies under the age of one, 1,793 toddlers (1–3 years old), 1,205 preschoolers (4–5 years old), 4,205 primary school children (6–12 years old), and 3,442 high school children (13–17 years old).

Save the Children’s Rachael Cummings spoke to Al Jazeera about the severe trauma Palestinian children are enduring as they witness and are affected by daily bombings, injuries, and horrific deaths.

“Children in Gaza witness things that no child should ever see,” she said.

The overall Palestinian death toll since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza has reached at least  46,726 with more than 109,196 wounded. Thousands more remain trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.