Gaza girl shares story of being found alive in morgue after Israeli attack

Twelve-year-old Raghad al-Assar lay unconscious in a Gaza mortuary for eight hours after she was declared dead following an Israeli attack on her home in central Gaza last year.

“We were sitting in our home like everyone else when suddenly bullets, planes and drones came down on us,” she told Al Jazeera.

Al-Assar was saved by chance when a Palestinian man searching for his son’s body in the morgue saw the young girl’s fingers moving as she lay on a cold slab.

“I was in a coma for two weeks, and when I woke up, my family told me that I had been placed in the morgue refrigerator,” she recounted.

Two of al-Assar’s sisters were killed in the attack on June 8, 2024, and other members of her family were hurt as well.

“All my family was injured, and two of my sisters were martyred. My eldest sister’s condition is worse than mine. She can’t see in one eye, has burns, deep wounds and stomach problems,” al-Assar revealed.

Her story is one of the many to emerge from Israel’s war on Gaza, which United Nations experts have described as a genocide.

According to the UN Children’s Fund, some 64,000 children have “reportedly been killed or maimed” in Israeli attacks on coastal Palestinian territory.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 69,187 Palestinians and wounded 170,703 since its start in October 2023.

‘Changed her into another person’

Al-Assar’s father, Mohammed, was working when his house was attacked. A relative had called to tell him what happened.

“News came to me that my house was targeted. I was at work, not at home. I rushed from work to the hospital to check what happened,” he said.

“We went to the house to look for Raghad under the rubble. We did not find any sign of her.”

After he reunited with his daughter, Mohammed noticed the attack had completely changed her.

“The incident that occurred to her changed her mental health and personality into another person,” he explained. “There would be incidents where we walk on the street, where she faints while we’re walking on the street.”

Al-Assar told Al Jazeera she suffers from nightmares and anxiety whenever she recalls the day of the attack.

“I don’t like to remember, don’t want to hear war sounds, and avoid things that bring back memories. If I hear bombing or planes, I get frightened,” she said.

Her family is hoping to get al-Assar and her sister medical treatment abroad.

“I want to go abroad for treatment. That is my dream,” al-Assar said. “It is a child’s right to live just like other people abroad — for them to have play and have wellbeing.”

Two years of Israeli bombardment across Gaza have destroyed many health facilities and killed hundreds of medics, resulting in the collapse of the territory’s medical infrastructure.

While Hamas and Israel agreed last month to a ceasefire, Israel continues to conduct attacks on the enclave, and at least 260 people have been killed since the truce began on October 10.