"On the road from Gaza to Khan Younis, a girl sat next to me. Her name was Sama.
She was in her mother’s lap, pointing with her small hand towards the window. I understood she wanted to see the sea, so I opened the window and placed her in my lap. A smile appeared on her face, like someone remembering that life can look different.
I said to her jokingly: “I didn’t notice you’ve been pointing at me for a while. Why didn’t you call me, uncle?”
Her mother replied: “She used to talk a lot, but after what happened to her two years ago, she stopped speaking. Now she only uses gestures.”
I fell silent for a moment, and inside me there was an old desire I hate and cannot suppress — the urge to ask questions. So I asked, realising I was about to commit the sin of curiosity once again.
On 7 December 2023, they were besieged in Muscat School on Yafa Street. Three hundred civilians were waiting for “evacuation”. Soldiers ordered the men to leave first. They deceived them and executed four of them in front of their wives and children. Sama’s father was one of them.
Half an hour later, her elder sister went out trying to pull his body away. They shot her. She bled on the ground for nine full hours, and by God’s mercy she survived.
The occupation army ordered the women to evacuate towards the west of the city after detaining the remaining men, the first of whom was her older brother. On the way, the mother discovered that her daughter was not with them. That moment alone is enough to age a soul for an eternity.
For three days she kept returning to the school, which had turned into a military barracks, begging the soldiers to allow her to search. On the third day, she was allowed in.
She entered the area searching among the rubble of houses and charred walls, among torn small bags, among extinguished voices, until she found her sitting under a wall, in soiled clothes, staring into nothingness for three days without food or water.
That was Sama. Since that day, not a single word has come out of her mouth. She does not cry, she does not scream, she does not speak. She only points to ask for things, and taps her plate when she wants to eat, and her cup when she wants to drink.
I looked at Sama as she laughed at the sea. I wanted to say something, anything, but there was no use. Just hearing her story made me lose my speech too, Sama.
How do you comfort a child who has gone through all this — who lost her voice, her father, saw her sister injured, and lost her childhood?
I cursed my curiosity, and I cursed this vile world that smiles in the faces of killers,
the world that decorates its screens with talk of “peace”.
This genocide will not end, and it will not leave us, even if the whole earth blossoms into an apology for Sama."
- Malek Shinbary, 9 November 2025
What the United Nations verified - not alleged, not reported, verified - is that Israeli forces raped prisoners with objects, raped them with dogs, shot them in the genitals, and did it consistently enough across enough facilities and enough years that they concluded it was policy rather than misconduct.
Israel called it a “blood libel.”
Whenever Israel breaks out that term, it’s eventually verified. AIPAC asset politicians and Israel First zionist clergy have assured us that Israel has the most moral military in the world. According to the report trusted by the U.S. for the last 15 years, the most moral military in the world has a huge rape problem.
Dear Fam,
I'm excited to tell you about my first children's book. I decided to self publish this one; so, for now, it's only available to buy from my website, and only in the US.
There's a magic part of the moon called Al-Qassam, Palestinians will use its magic moondust to get free, and free the rest of the world too (from the people and their affiliates who stole Palestine and rob/oppress other countries).
Because, the only life worth living, is a life in service of others.
https://t.co/1DkEZ9Em73