A picture of her grief gripped the world. A year on, Gaza woman haunted by memories
The Reuters photograph of Inas Abu Maamar, face buried in the shrouded body of her dead five-year-old niece Saly, was taken days after Israel began its military offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' October 7 attack.
Twelve months on, she is still grappling with her grief and with a conflict which seems unending.
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Twelve months on, she is still grappling with her grief and with a conflict which seems unending.
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SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
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NewsTranscript
00:00A photo that gripped the world.
00:05In the year since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza, it's become one of the most vivid
00:10images of Palestinian suffering.
00:14Taken by a Reuters journalist, it shows Inas Abu Muammar cradling her five-year-old niece
00:20in a shroud.
00:21Her name was Sally.
00:27She would say to me, auntie, take photos of me.
00:30And I would photograph her.
00:32One or two photos wouldn't be enough for her.
00:34She would want more.
00:35She would say, auntie, take more photos of me.
00:39Before October 7, Gaza had faced an extensive Israeli blockade following Hamas' takeover
00:45in 2007.
00:46For Abu Muammar's family, life, while severely restricted in Khan Yunis, with little work
00:53and limited imports, was stable.
00:55But all that changed.
00:58Sally, along with members of her family, was killed in an Israeli airstrike just 10 days
01:06after Israel launched its full-scale invasion into Gaza.
01:10Its response?
01:11To Hamas' October 7 attack.
01:14By the day of the strike on October 17, Israel said it had attacked 5,000 Hamas targets in
01:21the Strip.
01:22By that point, Palestinian health authorities said 940 children had been killed.
01:29Sally was one of them.
01:31Our hope is to have the family as it was before.
01:35But unfortunately, it will never be the way it was.
01:40It will never happen.
01:46It will never happen.
01:47Sally used to fill the house with her playing, behaviour and words.
01:51Her words were always bigger than her age.
01:56It's been almost a year since the day that changed Abu Muammar's life.
02:00The day she collected Sally's body from the Nasser Hospital.
02:04The only memory left of Sally, because everything was lost in the house when it was hit, is
02:10a traditional Palestinian dress.
02:12This is the only one left for Sally.
02:15She would always put it on and say to me, auntie, take photos of me, my love.
02:21Israel says it tries to reduce harm to civilians and that its military campaign is necessary
02:26to crush Hamas, which it accuses of hiding among the general Palestinian population.
02:31Hamas denies this.
02:35We want the war to end.
02:40Since the strike, Abu Muammar and her family have been forced to flee repeatedly as Israeli
02:46forces battled Hamas across southern Gaza.
02:50With nowhere safe to run, Abu Muammar says her family returned to Khan Yunis.
02:56We witnessed displacement once, twice, three and four times, from place to place.
03:03We don't know where to go.
03:04The last time they told us there was displacement, we did not leave.
03:08We thought, let us just die as we are now.
03:11We don't know where to go.
03:13We don't have any place to go to.
03:15Back in her home, she is closer to Sally's grave, in a small, ruined graveyard.
03:21Next to her is Sally's little brother.
03:23Ahmed is the only one left from his family.
03:29His sister Sally, who he always used to play with, he always asks us about her.
03:34He would ask, where is she?
03:37We want to go to her in heaven.
03:40The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians.
03:46And about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
03:52Since then, Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,700 people, according
03:59to Palestinian health authorities.
04:01Mostly civilians, like Sally.
04:04Abu Muammar has endured her grief for the last 12 months.
04:08But hope for an end to the conflict, like her grief, seems out of reach.
04:14There is no hope.
04:16We lost all hope in everything.