STORY: Gazan girl hopes for hair regrowth amid war trauma
SHOOTING TIME: Aug. 31, 2024
DATELINE: Sept. 1, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:44
LOCATION: GAZA, Palestine
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Sama Tubail with her mom in the tent in Khan Younis City
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): SAMA TUBAIL, Palestinian girl
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): SAMA TUBAIL, Palestinian girl
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): SAMA TUBAIL, Palestinian girl

STORYLINE:

Every morning after waking up, Sama Tubail, an 8-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip, would hold a broken mirror to check if her hair has grown back.

Tubail still had her long hair five months ago. She used to style it out, making her the focus of attention among her friends.

At that time, she loved to play with her friends, which she told Xinhua could help her overcome fear amidst continuous Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave.

Then, out of the blue, her life was turned upside down one day, as the Israeli army attacked a house near her family's tent in Rafah in southern Gaza and forced her family to flee to the Indonesian Field Hospital in the city.

Luckily, Tubail and her family survived the attack and moved to Khan Younis, another city in southern Gaza, as they thought it would be safer. But explosions did not stop, and the little girl feared she would die at any moment.

To not disturb her parents, the child decided not to cry and to keep her fear to herself. And a few days later, Tubail was shocked to witness excessive hair loss when combing her hair. She could bear it no longer and started crying for her mother.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): SAMA TUBAIL, Palestinian girl
"We were displaced in Rafah when the army suddenly stormed the city. My father and mother carried us and fled to the Indonesian hospital in the city. Half an hour later, they bombed the top floor, which terrified me greatly. The next morning, we fled to Khan Younis. Two days later, when I was combing my hair, it was falling out so much that it became like this."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): SAMA TUBAIL, Palestinian girl
"When I was playing with the girls in Khan Younis, the girls started asking me why I was wearing the hijab, and I didn't know what to answer them. Once, a little girl dared to lift the hijab from my hair, and they started bullying me."

Amidst a lack of medical supplies in Gaza due to Israel's ongoing siege on the enclave, there is no treatment available for Tubail locally.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023.

According to a statement released by Gaza-based health authorities on Saturday, the Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the enclave has risen to 40,691.

"Unfortunately, children are paying a high price for this war," Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in the Gaza Strip, told Xinhua.

"All the children in Gaza have been suffering psychological trauma which negatively affected their health conditions and even their life," Shawa said.

"Some children were infected with various diseases as a result of their psychological trauma and some others, like Tubail, lost their hair, and this is a normal result of the dire conditions they are experiencing now," he said.

Tubail's birthday falls on Oct. 5. For the little girl, one of her biggest wishes is to regrow her hair before her birthday.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): SAMA TUBAIL, Palestinian girl
"I want my hair to grow before my birthday in October, so I can comb it like the other girls. I hope to return to northern Gaza to live there."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gaza, Palestine.
(XHTV)