"I want to play with you Mohammed like we used to"

Nadia, a 12-years-old living in Beach Camp with her family that consists of 8 siblings. Nadia and her 9 years old Mohammed are very close to each other, they are used to going out together to buy stuff together and play together. They are like twines in everything.

During the internal clashes between Fatah and Hamas on Thursday June 14th, Nadia had lost her brother. As she was crying, she told her story of loosing her brother Mohammad: "It was on a Thursday evening when Mohammed and I went to buy some candy from the store nearby our house as usual. As we are coming back, we heard random shooting and shillings, I asked Mohammad to hurry up. Instead he started to sing as we are walking saying" I wish I get hit by a rocket, or a bullet and get martyrdom, as he is laughing and singing". Suddenly the shootings and shelling intensified, I hugged Mohammed to protect him from the bullets. Suddenly, we heard a loud noise, as a result we took the floor, and we saw dark smokes and dust flying everywhere in the sky. I screamed at Mohammed telling him to get up and leave the area. To my surprise, Mohammad responded with very light voice and with pain, I can not get up.

Then, two ambulance cars rushed to the place where one took me and the other took Mohammad. Why did they separate us from each other? I did not know that they have separated us from each other. I reached the hospital and asked to see Mohammed, but, no one responded to my request. Then, I realized that Mohammed was killed. He was hit with shrapnel in his stomach, his intestines came out. He died. I wished I had seen him before he died…I wish I kissed him before he is gone… I wished to say goodbye to him…I speak everyday to him and tell him to come back to me…I want to play with you Mohammed like we used to. I wish I can talk to him and tell him to come back and revenge from the aggressors.

As she is smiling with pain, Nadia says: I am imagining him as he is smiling and playing, he is the closest to me…he makes me laugh all the time. At the end of the session, Nadia insisted to recite a poem that she know. It was very sad poem.
The poem was as follows:

Children's eyes slept, but not mine

I feel intimidated, yet proud

My hand is broken by the sword of evil

In my life, silence prevail and darkness

Who can warm my heart?

As a result of this trauma, Nadia has strong feelings of revenge. She displays aggressive behavior, and she feels hopeless, she has depressed mood. She has re-experiencing of the traumatizing event. Nadia avoids the places that remind her of Mohammad, particularly the store nearby their home.

The therapist of Gaza Community Mental Health Programme has been following Nadia for 5 sessions since her trauma. Nadia is diagnosed with PTSD, resulting from the Trauma of losing her close brother. She was treated by the therapist for certain behaviors such as aggression and feelings of revenge. In the debriefing sessions and the drawings during the sessions. Nadia had been treated through behavioral therapy. She now has forgot about the feelings of revenge and wishes to be a doctor in order to treat injured children. She displayed better coping behavior with the trauma. However, Nadia still needs more intervention in order to overcome the trauma of loosing her brother. The therapist is still following up with her on a weekly basis.

Note, it is worth to mention that Nadia was injured with some shrapnel in her right hand and right leg, resulting in amputation of her fingers. She is wondering if she will ever go back to normal life again….???