NAGHAM KARAJEH

Gaza- Despite the destruction and blockade in Gaza, “The Miracle Girl”, a short film by Maram Eleyan, Mohammed Eid, Deema Zohod and Zahra Alqassas, has managed to make the voice of Gaza heard.

The film, lasting six minutes and 44 seconds, tells the story of a girl showing extraordinary patience and determination despite the challenges faced by her; the film tells the story of Rama Aldremli, who survived a fire accident when she was one and a half years old, and the challenges faced by her.

The short film has won the Judges’ Choice Award at the 2025 ConnectHER Film Festival. However, Rama Aldremli and Palestinian filmmakers could not attend the award ceremony due to the ongoing war and blockade in the Gaza Strip.

Rama Aldremli is now 22 years old. When she was one and a half years old, she faced a tragedy; a horrific fire erupted, burning her face, hands, and most of her fingers. Everyone thought this little girl would not survive. She spent many days in intensive care, awaiting for her final breaths. However, she suddenly awoke from her coma and started writing the first line of her miraculous story.

‘I was reborn from my ashes’

“I was reborn from my ashes,” Rama Aldremli told NuJINHA. “Every cell in my body was screaming to survive. I was not just a survivor of the fire but also the beginning of a story to be written with determination.”

Although the scars of the fire remained visible on her body, she refused to undergo cosmetic surgery. She is never ashamed of the burn scars on her face, but sees them as an indelible mark of survival.

“Whenever, I look at myself, I see a lady of battle. Every scar is a testimony of victory over death,” said Rama Aldremli, who was bullied and made fun of throughout her childhood. “What hurt me the most was the looks of sorry and sympathy that followed me around.”

Due to the war that broke out in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Rama Aldremli has been displaced, facing hunger and the lack of water and medicine. Her weapon against Israel’s siege is patience. “When the gas was cut off, I had to use wood fire to cook. was forced to cook over wood. I felt the flames on my face. I carried water with my three remaining fingers. I have been alone since the displacement separated me from my brothers ” Rama Aldremli never gives up struggling to survive although she has been displaced multiple times and faced many challenges due to the war.

“I am the daughter of Gaza, the daughter of pain and patience, the daughter of fire and light,” she told us. “We are here and we will be here.”

‘Palestinian women are creators of light in the darkness’

Palestinian women are "creators of light in the darkness,” Rama Aldremli said. “They carry the remnants of hope on their shoulders although the world has failed to support them. They turn the ruins of their homes into poems of determination. They resist and reshape life without falling into despair. Palestinian women and girls are a symbol of resilience, loyalty, and the ability to hold on to life.”