- ‘What did we do to deserve to be targeted’: 2 injured Palestinian girls say of Israeli attacks on Gaza

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Days have passed since Fayza Abdel Aziz and Mira Ayyash were injured in Israeli bombings in the southern Gaza Strip but the “terrifying nightmares” still haunt the little girls.

Fayza, 11, and Mira, 8, were injured in separate attacks and are currently hospitalized at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis.

Fayza was injured as a result of the Israeli army targeting a civilian car in Rafah. She lost her two brothers and her left eye.

Mira was injured by missile fragments in the foot, as a result of Israeli bombing the area to which she was displaced in southern Gaza, coming from Gaza City.

Fayza and Mira are two of the thousands of children who have been injured since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.

They suffer difficult health conditions due to the lack of medical services.

Since Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, Israel has continued relentless attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 22,722 Palestinians and injuring 58,166, according to local health authorities.

At least 9,280 children have been killed in the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, according to data released by the government media office in Gaza on Monday.

Israeli authorities claimed that the Hamas attacks have killed around 1,200 Israelis.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

- Horrific scenes

Fayza recalled the details of the attack with a trembling voice. “I was walking on the road with two of my brothers and two of my cousins when suddenly an Israeli missile landed on a car that was passing by us,” she said.

“The shockwaves threw us a long distance from the place where we were walking. After we fell to the ground, I ran quickly out of fear, despite the pain that I felt and the blood that was streaming down my face.

“Moments later, I returned, despite my injuries, in search of my two brothers,” she said, noting that she was “shocked by the scenes of bodies and body parts lying on the ground next to the targeted car.”

“My biggest shock was when I found my two brothers and cousin lying on the ground, covered in their blood, dead,” she said.

Fayza said in a sad, trembling voice: “After I was transferred to Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, it became clear that my eyes had been seriously injured.”

The little girl was later transferred to the European Hospital to complete her treatment.

Fayza indicated that the doctors performed “facial surgery and surgery to remove the affected eye and stitch up the deep wounds,” noting that she is still “receiving treatment.”

She said with great anger: “I now have only one eye. Isn’t this forbidden?! What was my fault and what crime did I commit to lose my siblings and my eye?!”

“I cannot sleep at night due to the intensity of fear and pain, and if I close my eyes for a while, I have terrifying nightmares that remind me of those frightening moments during the bombing,” Fayza added.

- Horrifying moments

Mira lies on a nearby bed, suffering from pains in her foot as a result of being hit by shrapnel from an Israeli missile.

“I was playing outside with my brothers when the bombing occurred in the area to which I was displaced to coming from Gaza City, which led to my injury along with everyone who was with me,” she recounted.

In a weak, trembling voice, the little girl said: “We were taken directly to the hospital, where the doctors discovered that I had shrapnel in the foot, which caused major fractures and bone damage.”

Ayyash indicated that she underwent surgery to "stabilize fractures with platinum,” noting that she is still receiving treatment.

The child described the moments of the bombing she experienced as “frightening,” and wondered in astonishment: “What did we children do to be targets like that?”

Mire expressed her wish for a speedy recovery and normalcy.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said 70% of the victims of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza are women and children.

In its ground incursion on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, Israel targeted and stormed the Al-Nasr Children's and Al-Rantisi hospitals, like the rest of the Strip’s hospitals, and put them out of service, "which caused an increase in the suffering of pediatric patients and the death of a number of them,” Qudra told Anadolu.

More than once, local and international health institutions have condemned the Israeli targeting of medical facilities, centers, and ambulances in Gaza, which undermines the provision of services to civilians.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi