Sila was playing outside her home when the attack took place. Shrapnel from a strike on a nearby location struck her spine, causing severe damage to her spinal cord.

Since that day, Sila’s life has never been the same. She can no longer stand or sit normally, and she is unable to use the bathroom without assistance. The severe damage to her spine has also left her body visibly deformed, while each day is marked by intense pain.

At just six years old, Sila should be running, playing and laughing with her friends. Instead, even the simplest parts of childhood have become a painful struggle.

Since the day she was injured, Sila’s family has been holding a No. 1 emergency medical evacuation referral form. She was supposed to be transferred outside Gaza for treatment, but despite the time that has passed, this has not happened. The specialized treatment she needs is not available in Gaza, while the severe damage to the healthcare system has made access to the care she urgently needs even more difficult.

As the Mavi Marmara Association, we reached Sila and spoke with her family about her condition. Her father, Hamza Azzam Abu Krayem, described the pain his daughter has been going through and the helplessness he feels as a father.

“As a father, seeing her like this breaks my heart.”

Hamza Azzam Abu Krayem said that Sila can no longer walk or use the bathroom on her own, and described the pain she is enduring as impossible to put into words:

“She is not only suffering; she is slowly dying before my eyes... I am losing my daughter.”

Speaking about his daughter’s right not only to treatment but also to return to being a child, he called on donors and people of compassion to stand with Sila:

“See my daughter as one of your own daughters, as one of your own children. We are asking for nothing more than her right to receive treatment.”

Sila is only six years old. She needs to receive the specialized care she requires without further delay, so that she can have a chance to regain her mobility, live with less pain and keep hold of the childhood that has already been taken from her.

With all the means at our disposal, we will continue standing with Sila and children like her who are fighting to survive, supporting their needs and working to make the suffering in Gaza heard around the world.