Saturday 23 March 2024

Israel-Gaza war: Gazan girl begs rescuers to save brother first as entire family killed

 "I'm Alma." "Don't help me first. Help my mum and dad. And please help my brother Tarazan. He's a baby, 18 months old."

It's morning on 2 December 2023, and 12-year old Alma Jaroor has been buried under the rubble of a five-storey building in downtown Gaza City for over three hours.

"I want to see my brothers and sister," she shouts. "I have missed them."

But the rescuer reaches Alma first, and she clambers out - unaided - from between jagged slabs of concrete and twisted metal bars.

She is coated in dust but has no major injuries.

They ask where her family is. She points to the rubble on her right and left.

Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing

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Three months on, Alma tells the BBC her story, at length and in detail.

Her uncle Sami sits nearby. She is sheltering with him and his family in a tent in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

Her words are a torrent of horror and loss.

"I remember waking up under the rubble. I checked my iPad, and saw it was 09:00. I hoped my brother Tarazan would still be alive. I was calling out to him, and holding on to hope that one of them would be alive.

"I could smell the blood. It was dripping on to me. I was screaming for anyone to rescue us. I was hearing others calling out as well."

But after Alma was rescued, she saw Tarazan's remains.

Alma (L) and Tarazan, her 18-month-old brother who was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Gaza City in December 2023IMAGE SOURCE,FAMILY HANDOUT
Image caption,
Alma (L) and Tarazan, her 18-month-old brother

"I lifted the blanket that was covering him. I found him in an unimaginable state," she says, "his head severed." At this she falls silent, haunted by what she cannot unsee.

"I wish for death after seeing my brother like that," she says. "He was only 18 months old. What has he done in this war?"

Tarazan was not her only loss. Her entire family was gone, killed side by side - her parents Mohammed, 35, and Naeema, 38; brothers Ghanem, 14, and Kinan, 6; and sister Reehab, 11.

Alma's parents had tried hard to outrun Israel's bombardment and keep their children safe. She tells us the first area the family fled to was bombed, and the second. And in the third place, the bomb landed on them.

MORE DETAILS AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68625406

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