Gaza Herald _Three-year-old Eileen Al-Attar never imagined that a few terrifying minutes would permanently change the course of her childhood. She had been running and playing with other girls near her family’s tent, as children do, while the sound of nearby bombardment grew louder.
In an instant, the tent that was supposed to provide shelter became the scene of another tragedy, beginning a long journey of pain, treatment and waiting.
Her father recalls the day that remains etched in his memory:
“On Friday, February 5, 2026, I was at the mosque when an airstrike hit about 200 meters from our tent. Eileen was playing with girls her age. When her mother heard the explosion, she quickly took the pot off the fire and went outside looking for her, terrified that something had happened.”
He added that Eileen returned to the tent alone. “Because she was so frightened, she did not notice the pot on the ground. She fell onto it and suffered deep burns across large areas of her body.”
The first minutes were critical, but what followed was even more difficult. Eileen arrived at the hospital in extremely serious condition and began a long battle for her life in the intensive care unit.
“When we took her to the hospital, her condition was very critical. She spent 35 days in intensive care unconscious. The doctors had almost no hope that she would survive, especially because the burns had affected her lungs. She also developed blood poisoning and needed 27 units of blood before her condition stabilized,” her father said.
A Daily Struggle With Pain
Although Eileen survived the most critical stage, her suffering did not end. The burns began leaving severe scars across her small body as abnormal scar tissue developed, intensifying her daily pain.
“The scar tissue is now disfiguring her body because of the lack of proper treatment and medical creams. She suffers from severe itching around the burned areas and cannot tolerate the pain,” her father said.
Eileen is no longer the child who once ran and played freely. Night has become hours of crying, while the daytime brings further suffering inside a tent that offers little protection from the summer heat and does nothing to ease the pain of her burns.
“Eileen cannot sleep at night because of the pain. During the day, she cannot even sit inside the tent because the heat makes her suffering worse. She is living with constant pain,” her father said.
The family’s ordeal extends beyond her physical suffering. Every day has become a difficult search for the medical treatment she needs. The medical and cosmetic creams required to care for her burns are scarce, and when they are available, their prices are often beyond the family’s means.
“She constantly needs medical and cosmetic creams, but they are not available. Sometimes I spend an entire week searching for one type, and often I cannot find it at all. When I do find it, it is extremely expensive,” her father said.
Despite the severity of her condition, Eileen’s family continues to hold on to the hope that she can receive treatment outside Gaza.
She was granted an urgent medical referral shortly after she was injured, but months have passed without the family receiving a call confirming a date for her transfer.
“We have been waiting for that call ever since she was injured. Every day that passes adds to her suffering. I am afraid her chance of being saved will disappear before she can reach the treatment she needs,” her father said.
For now, the three-year-old spends her days between pain, bandages and medical creams, while she and her family wait for a phone call that could give her a chance to recover part of the childhood stolen by her burns, and offer her small body a path toward healing and a more merciful life.
