Why Did Gaza Child, Alma, Refuse to Be Rescued Following Israeli Attack on Her Home? (VIDEO)

The moment Palestinian child Amal was rescued in Gaza. (Photo: via AJA, videograb)

When a residential building of five stories came tumbling down in the Yarmouk neighborhood, in central Gaza, scores of people rushed to the rescue.

Many lifeless bodies were pulled from under the rubble, and the rescuers grew discouraged with time that no one remained alive amid the heap of bloody concrete and dust.

That’s when Alma’s voice trickled through the cracks of the large slabs of concrete, before being fully audible.

“We are alive here,” Alma shouted.

“What is it, Alma?” a man’s voice, one of the rescuers, answered from above.

“Help my mother, my father, my brothers, and my grandmother first. Then you can help me. Only then you can pull me out.”

The girl repeated: “Please leave me to the very end. I also need to be here so I can help direct you,” she added.

“How old are you?” said the man’s voice.

“I am 12 years old. One of my brothers is a baby, he has to be helped first.”

“Are you Sara’s sister?” said the voice.

“My sister is Rehab and my baby brother is (nicknamed) Tarzan.”

“How old is Tarzan?” asked the voice.

“One year, one year and a half,” she shouted.

“Please promise me that you will help my brother, Tarzan, please.”

Alma was eventually saved. Even when she was being pulled out to the reassuring words of the rescuers, she kept pointing: “My brothers are here”.

"Please leave me at the end. Save my family first"

12-year-old Palestinian child Alma refused to be rescued following an Israeli attack on her home because she wanted her family to be rescued first.

???? via Al-Jazeera pic.twitter.com/hVKKwMfyZM

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 4, 2023

The video, which documented the event, does not tell us what has happened to Alma’s family. However, it does convey, through the innocent voice of a Gaza child, the immense love and solidarity that exists in Palestinian society in Gaza.

It was not only Alma’s love for her family that made this story worth telling, but the love of the community itself, especially those who were digging through the shattered concrete with their bare hands.