Nine-year-old Elham Abu Hajjaj was left with third-degree burns and orphaned after an attack on her home in al-Saffaweh, Gaza City. She now lives with relatives and bears deep physical and emotional scars. The WHO estimates nearly 42,000 people in Gaza have sustained life-changing injuries, and children are disproportionately affected by burns. To cope, Elham draws and has rebuilt her destroyed house on paper, including the tree her father planted.
Nine-Year-Old Gaza Girl Rebuilds Her Life After Severe Burns and Losing Her Parents
Nine-year-old Elham Abu Hajjaj was left with third-degree burns and orphaned after an attack on her home in al-Saffaweh, Gaza City. She now lives with relatives and bears deep physical and emotional scars. The WHO estimates nearly 42,000 people in Gaza have sustained life-changing injuries, and children are disproportionately affected by burns. To cope, Elham draws and has rebuilt her destroyed house on paper, including the tree her father planted.
06:13 PM, 11/20/2025Conflict
Nine-year-old Elham Abu Hajjaj woke in hospital to find her body badly burned and her parents gone after an attack on their home in Gaza City's al-Saffaweh neighbourhood. She has third-degree burns and extensive scarring, and now lives with her grandparents and surviving relatives.
Injury, loss and recovery
Elham remembers her mother holding her and praying before the blast. When she regained consciousness, a machine was attached to her stomach and her whole body was trembling. "I touched my body and it was all burned," she said. She asked medical staff where her parents were but received no answer; both of her parents were killed in the strike.
"When I look in the mirror, I say to myself: 'Oh God, look at these wounds, they are very bad wounds.'" — Elham Abu Hajjaj
Elham's experience is part of a larger humanitarian crisis. The World Health Organization estimated that nearly 42,000 people in Gaza — roughly 2% of the population — have sustained life-changing injuries, and as many as a quarter of those are children. More than 3,350 people have suffered major burns; children have been disproportionately affected, with roughly 70% of those receiving burn surgery being children, many under five, and many burns caused by blast incidents.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, more than 39,000 children in Gaza have lost one or both parents, with an estimated 17,000 becoming parentless after October 2023.
Finding ways to cope
Surrounded by the rubble of her neighbourhood, Elham now tries to process her grief through drawing. "It helps me forget everything that happened," she said. In her latest picture she rebuilt the house she lost, adding a swing and a tree her father had planted — small acts of remembrance and hope as she begins to heal physically and emotionally.
Elham's story highlights both the personal tragedy endured by individual families and the wider toll of injuries and bereavement on Gaza's children. Her resilience — and the care provided by relatives and medical teams — will be central to her long-term recovery.