Israel-Gaza war: The 12-year-old Gazan girl who lost her whole family overnight

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March 22, 2024 Indonesia, Central Java, Kudus 35

Description

In video recorded by a Palestinian rescuer, a shout comes from under mounds of smashed concrete.


 


"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


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.


And how many Almas are there now, robbed of their mothers and fathers?


 


The war has created at least 20,000 orphans as of the end of February, according to preliminary information gathered by researchers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. It is an independent non-governmental organisation supported by the EU which works on the ground in Gaza.


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