America News World Exclusive – November 20, 2025
By Sarah Johnson, Staff Writer
Nine-year-old Elham Abu Hajjaj only remembers one thing from the night her world ended: her mother’s arms wrapped tightly around her, praying out loud as the bombs fell.
When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed with tubes in her stomach and her entire body on fire with pain.
“I touched myself and everything was burned,” Elham told Al Jazeera in a voice that is still small but steady. “I asked the doctor, ‘Where are my mom and dad?’ He didn’t answer.”
They were gone. Both killed instantly when an Israeli airstrike destroyed their home in Gaza City’s al-Saffaweh neighborhood.
Elham suffered third-degree burns across her neck, arms, chest, stomach, and legs. Doctors say she is one of more than 3,350 people in Gaza who have suffered major burns since the war began – and children make up the majority of the worst cases.
Today marks exactly one month since the fragile ceasefire began, but for Elham and thousands like her, peace came too late.
She still wakes up screaming some nights. The scars pull tight when she moves. She can’t play like other kids. Simple things like putting on a shirt hurt.
Yet this little girl is already fighting back in the most beautiful way.
She draws.
Every day, Elham sits with colored pencils and paper and rebuilds the life that was stolen from her.
Her latest picture shows her old house – but not the pile of rubble it became. In her drawing, the house stands tall again. There is a swing in the yard. A big green tree grows beside the door.
“I drew the tree because my father planted one just like it,” she says, tracing the leaves with her finger. “I miss him so much.”
More than 39,000 children in Gaza have lost at least one parent in this war. Seventeen thousand have lost both – just like Elham. They are called Gaza’s new orphans, and their numbers grow every week.
But Elham is lucky in one way. She still has her older brother, her grandparents, and an aunt. When she first saw her brother alive in the hospital, she cried tears of joy for the first time since the bombing.
“I felt a little happy,” she says quietly. “But my heart is still sad for Mommy and Daddy.”
Now the family lives together in a damaged house surrounded by ruins. There is no electricity most evenings. Winter is coming, and the nights are already cold. Still, Elham says drawing helps her forget the pain – even if only for a little while.
“When I draw, I don’t think about the burns. I don’t think about the night everything went black. I just color and feel peaceful.”
Doctors say her positive spirit is helping her heal faster than expected. Her grandfather watches her with tears in his eyes and says, “This child has more strength than all of us.”
Elham dreams of becoming an artist when she grows up. She wants to draw beautiful things – gardens, houses with swings, big trees, happy families – and give the pictures to other children who lost everything.
“I want them to feel hope too,” she says.
In a place where hope feels impossible, one nine-year-old girl is creating it with nothing but paper and crayons.
Her story is spreading fast across social media. Thousands of people around the world – from California to London to Dubai – are sharing her drawings and sending messages that say the same thing:
“Elham, you are stronger than the bombs. You are Gaza’s light.”
If this little girl’s courage doesn’t break your heart and then put it back together, nothing will.
Share Elham’s story. Let the world see what real resilience looks like.
Because while politicians argue, a burned, orphaned nine-year-old is teaching every single one of us how to keep