Sojud Abdelhakim Mohamed Olwan

Location Gaza

Sojud’s suffering started at birth when she underwent an operation, during which a medical fault took place that led to her permanent paralysis. She joined a school for people with disability. “Sometimes she used to cry because she wanted to walk like other children,” said her sister, Khaula, 24. Her father was a poet, so he was teaching her poems and diction. She used to participate in poetry and singing competitions because she had a sweet voice.

At midnight on 30 July 2014, the adjacent land to her house, in the Al Toffah neighborhood in Gaza City, was bombarded by Israeli warplanes. “Our house was completely covered with sand and stones, and the last one to be recovered from under the rubbles was Sojud who died of suffocation at the age of eleven. We still can’t believe that Sojud is no longer with us,” added her sister.