We have no family support, please stop this war, says Maram al-Jughburi, who lost her father, brother, and other relatives in Saturday's Israeli attack on Et-Tabiin school
A Palestinian girl who survived Saturday's devastating Israeli attack on a school in Gaza City, killing at least 100 people, has appealed to the world, especially Arab countries, to "stop the war," saying: "We have no one left."
Last weekend, Israel carried out an unprecedented massacre at the Et-Tabiin school, a refuge for thousands of displaced civilians in eastern Gaza City.
Maram al-Jughburi, who lost her father, brother, and many other relatives in the attack, described the horrific day to Anadolu.
Describing the sudden nature of the attack, Maram said they were late getting to the school's prayer room as her mother was looking for a prayer mat. But when they got downstairs, they found the school's mosque area completely engulfed in flames.
"There were body parts and blood all over the mosque," she said. "People were trying to pull out the martyrs," she added.
"My father, my brother, and my uncle were martyred (killed). My cousin's arms and legs were cut off," she said, adding that he also died in the hospital.
"Both of my brother's legs were amputated; he was saying: 'I'm tired, I can't take it anymore'," she added.
Maram said now her heart breaks every time she sees his brother without legs as well as the face of her 10-year-old cousin, saying it is unrecognizable.
They felt safe at the school and had harmed no one, she said.
"What did they want from us?" she asked, referring to the Israeli forces who attacked the school, drawing widespread international outrage.
- 'My father is gone, we have no one left'
Expressing her deep loss, Maram told how her father used to ask her to prepare breakfast every morning and thank her. "He had promised to give me 100 shekels ($26) if I memorized parts of the Quran for a competition at school, but now my father is gone. We have no support, no one left," she lamented.
Appealing to Arab countries to help put an end to 10 months of relentless attacks on Gaza, she said: "They say they're going to send us aid. We don't want their help, just stop this war. I swear we don't want anything, no food, no drink, nothing. We have no one left, enough, just stop this war now."
- Bodies burned, blown apart
In Saturday's attack, bombs dropped from warplanes caused a massive fire, with most bodies dismembered and some completely charred.
Footage on social media showed body parts being collected in plastic bags, with each 70-kilogram (154-pound) bag classified as one person's remains, highlighting the extent of violence inflicted on Palestinians.
Gaza's government media office said that due to the intensity of the bombardment, the bodies of three families could not be recovered.
The Israeli onslaught has killed nearly 40,000 victims, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,000 others since Oct. 7, according to local health authorities.
Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
