Sham Abu Tabaq, age 5, has a piercing stare. Behind her dark eyes are memories she has hardly begun to process. <\/p>\n
She has experienced war. She has been forced from her home. And she was in her father\u2019s arms when he was fatally shot, and saw both him and her older sister left for dead in the street. <\/p>\n
And then, there\u2019s this: Sanaa doesn\u2019t just blame the Israeli military for killing her husband and daughter and shooting her in the leg \u2013 though certainly she does blame the Israeli military. <\/p>\n
An Israeli soldier may also have saved her life. <\/p>\n
That should not be extraordinary. All militaries are obligated under international law to help injured civilians. But in the war in Gaza, stories like Sanaa\u2019s are exceedingly rare. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe had mercy towards us,\u201d she said of the soldier. But he and his comrades, she said, \u201calso took from me the most precious thing I had.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sanaa and her husband Akram \u2013\u202fa schoolteacher \u2013 lived with their daughters Sham and Yasmeen in Beit Lahia, in the northernmost end of Gaza. <\/p>\n
She worked at a foundation that provides support for orphans. Like many women in Gaza, she dressed conservatively and often covered her face, which is marked by deep burn scars from a childhood accident. <\/p>\n
In the days after Hamas\u2019 October 7 attack on Israel, and Israel\u2019s ensuing military campaign, the family were forced from their home \u2013 fleeing Israel\u2019s unprecedented bombardment of the Gaza Strip. When a brief ceasefire was announced in late November as part of a hostage release deal, they saw an opportunity to return. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so happy we weren\u2019t even able to sleep,\u201d Sanaa recalled. \u201cA truce was happening, and we were going to go home.\u201d <\/p>\n
They departed the United Nations-run health clinic where they had been living, in the Jabalya refugee camp, and began the roughly three-mile journey on foot. They were almost home, she said, when shots rang out. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like there was a sniper and he was shooting at us. We didn\u2019t see him,\u201d she said. \u201cSuddenly we were all injured.\u201d <\/p>\n
Seven-year-old Yasmeen\u2019s condition was the most serious. She was shot in the back and shoulder. Akram was struck in the stomach, and Sanaa in the leg. Only Sham was left unscathed by the hail of bullets. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband was telling me, \u2018Let\u2019s crawl and maybe we can find an ambulance to take us, or somebody might see us and help us.\u2019 But I couldn\u2019t crawl. And Yasmeen was in a very terrible condition \u2013\u202ftwo bullets, and she was all covered in blood. So, I told him, \u2018We can\u2019t.\u2019 He said, \u201cI\u2019ll try to crawl.\u2019 So he crawled a little bit. They finished him off! He remained in his place. He was killed,\u201d Sanaa said. <\/p>\n
For several hours they lay there in the middle of the street \u2013\u202ftoo injured and fearful to move. Sanaa held Yasmeen, promising her daughter that an ambulance was on the way and that they would survive. But no help was on the way. False hope was all Sanaa could offer her daughter in that moment. <\/p>\n
Life drained out of Yasmeen, and she succumbed to her wounds. <\/p>\n
\u201cI laid my daughter Yasmeen on the ground, may God bless her soul. And I covered her with a blouse. And I told Sham, \u2018Come on darling, let\u2019s crawl.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
Crawling along the ground, speaking in whispers, they left behind the bodies of their family and made it inside a partially bombed two-story house. They huddled in a bathroom as night fell. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the morning, around 7:30, we heard the sounds of the Israelis and of the tanks,\u201d Sanaa said. \u201cI told her, \u2018Sham my darling, the Israelis have come. They are going to shoot us. But don\u2019t be afraid. It\u2019s over. And we are going to die.\u2019 She said, \u2018Okay mom, but hide me. I don\u2019t want to see them when they come and shoot me.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
As Sanaa cradled her daughter, an explosion shook the house, blowing in the door of the bathroom where they were huddled and shattering the window above them, sending glass raining down. <\/p>\n
Soon, the soldiers were inside the house. After some tense moments of shouting, she said, the soldiers were convinced that Sanaa and Sham were not harboring militants and tended to their wounds. <\/p>\n