6-Year-Old Gaza Girl Carrying Sister in Viral Video Speaks to NBC News

“I carried her because she couldn’t walk.”

Still barefoot but no longer wearily carrying her younger sister on her shoulders, 6-year-old Qamar Subuh has a simple explanation for an act that many felt underscored the impact felt by palestinian children amid Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

Video of Qamar carrying his injured sister to a hospital and back in central Gaza was widely shared on social media recently. An NBC News team spoke with the sisters and their family on Saturday.

Qamar She said she and Sumaya Subuh, 5, were on their way to sell boxes of cookies nearby. the Al Bureij refugee camp when Sumaya was hit by a car.

As Sumaya needed treatment and could not walk, Qamar carried his younger sister on his shoulders and took her to the hospital. With there are no ambulances to take them homeQamar said she picked up her sister again and walked barefoot in the sun for more than an hour to return home, before a man offered to give them a ride.

Footage of his ordeal was captured by Palestinian journalist Alaa Hamouda, and Qamar was praised for his bravery in a snapshot of the daily reality faced by many Palestinians in the enclave.

The two girls live with their six other siblings and their mother in Al Bureij, a sprawling camp that houses It is estimated that 49,000 people.

The family occupies a small makeshift tent supported by wooden planks and surrounded by bags of sand and debris. Inside, the family sits against the wall on old blankets and dusty cushions, their belongings piled in a corner.

The children sing, clap, dance and play with each other while their mother, Hanan, feeds his 1-month-old brother with a bottle.

Qamar remembers the trip with his sister and explains why he helped her.

“He couldn’t walk on his leg,” she said.

Qamar says the couple sold cookies to raise money for the family to buy diapers and milk for their brother, as well as new clothes and shoes.

“We want better clothes, bedding, utensils, everything,” he said.

But above all, he said, he wants to see his father again, after the family lost contact with him after fleeing northern Gaza.

“We miss him a lot, more than the moon, we miss him,” he said. “We want to see our aunts again, to see our father and to see all of Gaza and the people return.”

The Israeli army deadly offensive in the north has been called one of the “darkest moments” of the conflict by United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Mughair, head of Civil Defense documentation in Gaza, told NBC News on Sunday that about 1,000 people had been killed and another 670 were missing since Israel launched the renewed offensive there weeks ago.

Qamar’s mother, 33, said the family comes from the northern city of Beit Lahia, where Israeli airstrikes have killed dozens in recent weeks. He said they moved from the north due to hunger and have since been displaced four times.

“My husband is lost in the north,” she said. “When he took us to the checkpoint, we lost contact. When he brought us here to the border, he said goodbye to the children and said, ‘May God be with you.'”

Hanan said she lives in fear of Israeli airstrikes that keep her awake at night, and that her children often go without food and some days without any food.

But he expressed pride in his daughter, “who took her sister, carried her, healed her and brought her back,” he said.

“It is not in their power to carry it,” he added. “But I had to do it.”