Humans of Gaza: Hala Abu Saada, 13-year-old student, artist, social worker

By Humaira Ahad

Wearing an elegant white shirt, Hala Abu Saada, a resident of northern Gaza, is seen explaining a children’s song through sign language in a video widely circulated on social media.

In the viral video clip, the 13-year-old appears full of life, enjoying her song performance.

Exuberant and ambitious, Abu Saada had weaved many dreams for her future. The young Palestinian girl wanted to become a journalist, a criminal investigator, an astronaut, and even a doctor.

Little did the teenager know that all her long-cherished dreams would be shattered in a split second.

Abu Saada was killed along with her mother, brother, and sisters in an Israeli airstrike that struck their home in Jabalia refugee camp, the largest of Gaza’s eight refugee camps, on October 17.

Abu Saada was no stranger to tragedies. She was robbed of her father’s love barely months after coming into the world. Her father, Mufid Abu Saada, was killed in an Israeli bombardment in 2009.

She grew up as an orphan but didn’t allow the biggest tragedy of her life to act as an obstacle.

The 13-year-old loved extending a helping hand to others. She had a particularly compassionate feeling for specially-abled children. To be able to work with deaf and mute kids, Abu Saada received training in sign language and started working with children with special needs.

Apart from her studies, the young schoolgirl was a volunteer at the Tamer Institute, a community education center with branches in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. The center works to provide learning opportunities to specially-abled children and young adults.

“My student Hala was unforgettable. She stuck in my mind from the first time I met her. She loved to post videos on TikTok. She wanted to be a doctor,” wrote Rana al-Shorbaji, Abu Saada’s English teacher who is currently based in Qatar.

The talented girl had a special interest in fine arts. She was a skilled Palestinian folk dancer, with a special interest in Dabke (Palestinian folk dance) and would teach the dance to her classmates.

The active teenager dabbled in many other creative endeavors as well. She translated and performed two songs from "Fahim", a music album comprising songs for children.

Released earlier this year, “Fahim” gained widespread popularity among Palestinian children whose lives have been tormented by the occupying regime’s decades-long occupation and oppression.

“Hala Abu Saada (13 years old) a child from the Jabalia Camp, Gaza. She loves (loved) theatre, photography and the arts. She participated in explaining children’s songs in sign language,” M. Yassine, a netizen from Qatar, wrote on X.

Almost half of the besieged territory’s population of 2.3 million people are children. As per Palestinian officials in Gaza, since the start of the Israeli aggression last month, more than 5,500 children have been killed, which is one Palestinian child killed every 10 minutes.

More than 1,800 children are missing, trapped under the rubble, most of them presumed dead. A further 9,000 children have been injured, many with life-changing consequences.

Living under occupation, more than 90 percent of children in Gaza are suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), according to medical experts.

Since October 7, the situation has become particularly catastrophic for them, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres describing the besieged territory as “a graveyard for children.”

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