Sarah Bseiso: A Gaza survivor’s account of the burns, loss and healing endured during Israel’s genocide by Ibtisam Azem

• “I felt something very hot hit me and push me several steps forward. Then the kitchen caught fire completely, and the flames began burning everything,” she explained.
• She continued, “While I was trying to understand what was happening, I noticed that my leather shoe had burnt, as had my feet and my medical glasses. I don’t know why I forgot that Hamoud was with me and that we were inside the flames.” 
• In sharing this, Sarah noted that she initially thought Ahmad had pulled Hamoud away, before realising that the fire had come from Ahmad’s side and the missile had left his whole body “riddled with holes.”
• As she screamed, her father pulled her from the fire, but both of her brothers, Ahmad, 16, and Hamoud, eight, died in the attack, with Ahmad dying immediately and Hamoud succumbing days later to his injuries, fourth-degree burns and smoke inhalation.
• Sarah recalls hearing Hamoud’s voice and moans from a nearby room while she was suffering from her own burns. No one was able to help him because of the extent of his injuries, the siege and the bombardment.
• Her father risked his life under bombardment to take her to a nearby hospital, where doctors gave her fluids to replace some of what she had lost, but they were unable to provide the treatment she needed.