Despite Witnessing The Destruction Of His Neighborhood, This Palestinian Man Shared A Hopeful Message From Gaza
“We are steadfast, persistent, and we will rebuild.”
A young man from Gaza has created a moving video about the resilience of Palestinians in the face of Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza that has now killed at least 10,022 Palestinians since Oct. 7.
Saleh Aljafarawi, a 25-year-old Palestinian YouTuber, shared a drone video of him walking through the rubble that used to be his old neighborhood.
“This is my neighborhood, everybody,” he says. “This is the place where I once lived.”
“All the memories, all the aspirations, all the dreams I built in this place, as you can all see, have all disappeared,” he said, as the drone zooms out to show the entire neighborhood has been destroyed.
“There are no longer any signs of life. There are no more bricks laid upon one another. Not one place is left standing. Despite this, there is still hope,” Aljafarawi said.
“The occupation will not be able to stop us. They will not bring down our spirits, he said. “We are steadfast, persistent, and we will rebuild.”
The video has gone viral on Aljafarawi’s Instagram, where it gained 12.6 million views, and has been reshared by other prominent accounts such as @eye.on.palestine.
More than 10,000 Palestinians, including 4,104 children, have now been killed in Gaza since Israel declared war on Palestinian militant group Hamas after it launched a surprise attack on Israel and killed 1,400 Israelis.
At least 25,408 Palestinians have been injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
