Malala Yousafzai demands ceasefire in Gaza sharing heartbreaking tale of Palestinian girl

World’s youngest Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai has highlighted the plight of young Palestinian girls enduring the consequences of Israel’s ongoing assault of the besieged enclave.

Sharing an Instagram story of a young girl, who has lost her hair due to stress and torment caused by Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, the education activist has called for an immediate ceasefire to protect innocent people.

“This is the trauma Palestinian girls are facing under Israel’s bombardment — no peace, no school. We need a ceasefire now and protect these children’s lives,” she wrote. 

Malala has, time and again, raised her voice for the rights of Palestinian children and has condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza, particularly on educational institutes. 

The eight-year-old Sama Tabil — in an interview with Al-Jazeera — detailed how she once adored her hair and that she was now being ridiculed for her baldness. With teary eyes, the little girl expressed her desire to travel abroad to get treatment so she could “be beautiful again”.

In the heartbreaking video, the little girl said she was a good student in school and would do her hair everyday before going to school. 

The girl was displaced with her family after Israeli forces’ assault on their camp in Rafah. Sama said she and her family were sleeping when the attack took place and they woke up to the sounds of gunfire and bomb explosions. 

Several days after the incident, her hair started falling off her hair. Sama’s mother said she saw dead bodies and ruins, following the bombardment which traumatised her. 

“The constant fear of shelling and lack of security has rubbed salt into the wound,” she said. 

She said the Israeli forces’ deadly strikes have deprived Sama of her childhood. In the Khan Younis camp, other girls tease her by calling her bald and a cancer patient, said the eight-year-old. “It really hurts,” she added. 

Amid medicines’ shortage, doctors cannot treat her in the besieged territory.

UNICEF has warned that children in Gaza are facing mental health crisis.