Peace between pain and steadfastness

In the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, where children's voices mix with moments of pain, lives the little girl Salam Raed Ayyad, who has become a small icon of resilience despite the wounds that burdened her little heart. Salam, who was only eight years old, lost her young father, Raed Ayyad, in a tragic moment when the Israeli occupation forces fired bullets out of hatred, stealing from his family their crutch and beating heart.

Raed, whom everyone knew for his constant smile despite everything he went through, grew up as an orphan in the home of his grandmother, Hajja Salam Ayyad, a woman who took on the responsibility of raising her grandchildren and children after she lost her husband in 2009 during the Gaza war. Hajja Salam was a model of a steadfast Palestinian woman who gave without stopping, as she dedicated her life to caring for orphans and raising them with values ​​and patience.

On that fateful day, the occupation forces stormed the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, carrying tongues of fire that burned the grandmother’s house, which was a witness to the stories of the Ayad family’s struggle. Raed lost his life during the aggression, and left behind his two young daughters, Salam and her younger sister, to begin a new journey of pain in the care of his grandmother, who had devoted her life to caring for orphans.

Grandma Salam: Mother of orphans

Hajja Salam is not only a grandmother to Salam and her sister, but she is also a mother to every orphan who passes through her house. Since she lost her husband in the war, she considered herself responsible to compensate her children and grandchildren for the tenderness they had lost. Today, she embraces her two granddaughters with love, despite the weight of responsibility and the harshness of life. She always says:
“As long as my heart beats, I will remain supportive of them. This is our land, and these are our children, and I will not leave them alone no matter what the occupation does.”

Peace of the little girl: innocence that refuses to be broken

Salam, despite her young age, carries in her eyes a strength beyond her years. At her school, she wrote her father's name on her small notebooks as if to say: "My father is gone in body, but he lives in my heart." She dreams of becoming a doctor, to heal the wounds of children who have lost loved ones like her.

Despite all the circumstances, Salam remains a symbol of a Palestinian childhood that resists death with a love of life, sowing hope in fields of despair, and teaching everyone that homelands remain strong with their children, no matter how deep the wounds are.

The story of Salam and her family is not only the story of a Palestinian family suffering from the oppression of the occupation, but it is a microcosm of the suffering of an entire people. It is a message to the world that despite the killing and destruction, Gaza is still vibrant with life, and that Hajja Salam and every Palestinian grandmother and mother are solid walls standing in the face of the occupation, carrying with them a legacy of steadfastness and belief in truth.

Today's peace is the title of a Palestinian childhood that was stripped of its most basic rights, but still clings to life with a hope that breaks the boundaries of the painful reality. We call on everyone who can contribute to extend a helping hand to this child, her sister, and her grandmother, whether by providing direct financial support or providing their basic needs.

Let us be the support for peace and others like it, and let us confirm that humanity is still present in our hearts.

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