Gaza entered the new year with streets still lined by rubble, tents where homes once stood, and families forever changed by loss. Yet, amid the devastation and suffering inflicted by two years of war, hope is beginning to surface, reflected in the aspirations of young people who have endured the unimaginable but refuse to let go of life.
Yumna Al Mahlawi, 24, is grateful to begin 2026 with something she once feared she would lose – her left hand.
A piece of shrapnel from an Israeli strike near the displacement camp where her family lived in June caused a deep wound and shattered bones. Doctors initially thought amputation was inevitable, she tells The National.
“I couldn’t imagine living with an amputated hand. I’m a young woman just starting my life. The idea destroyed me,” Yumna says.
But a few days after the injury, her doctors noticed a slight improvement. Two weeks later, against every expectation, they chose treatment over amputation. Over the months that followed, they operated again and again, with the last procedure only three weeks ago.
“The greatest gift of 2025 was keeping my hand,” Yumna says. “My hand is not as it was but it is still here. I never thought that was possible. My hand is the most beautiful thing I will carry with me into the new year. Every minute I thank God that I reached this year with my hand still with me.”
To her, 2026 is not just a new year but a new beginning: “It is a chance to continue healing, to return to life. Gaza is trying to breathe again. We are all trying. I hope I can travel this year to complete my treatment so my hand can return to how it was.”
Her father's dream
The year gone by was "one of the hardest years of the war for us", says Zina Al Aloul, 17, whose family lives in a tent in the Zeitoun area of Gaza city.
“We lost our father in an Israeli strike in April. We became five orphans − three girls and two boys. My mother is the only one taking care of us now.”
Zina's voice breaks as she speaks of how her father dreamt of seeing her excel in school and become an engineer, like him. After three months of a fragile ceasefire, her main wish is for life to return to normal.
“Life in 2025 was extremely difficult, especially for us as children. But it was also the year the war ended … and we pray it never returns. We are exhausted from wars, from death, from losing people we love every few months,” she says.
“I want schools to reopen. I want to walk on the Corniche again. I want the beautiful places of Gaza back. I want the tents to end,” she said.
For the year ahead, her dream is to sit for her final secondary school exam, or Tawjihi.
“I hope I can return to school and study for my Tawjihi. My father dreamed I would become an engineer. I want to fulfil that dream for him.”
'Life returned to me'
For Salah Al Haw, 23, the new year feels unreal because, until two months ago, he was certain he would never live to see it as a free man. Before his arrest, he had lost a leg in an Israeli strike early in the war.
Salah spent 18 months in an Israeli prison. “I thought my life was over. The jailers told us we would never see the sun or freedom again,” he tells The National. “I thought I would die in prison."
Then, two months ago, his name appeared on the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released for Israeli hostages under the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
“When they told me I would be released, life returned to me – 2025 became the year everything changed.”
Salah stepped out of prison and into a displacement camp in central Gaza. The life waiting for him was harsh tents, destruction, shortages — but also filled with the faces of his family.
“After prison, even the tent felt like paradise,” he says. “I never imagined I would live to see a new year in Gaza. I hope it will be a year of goodness for me, and for Gaza; that God compensates us for everything we lost.”
Salah's greatest hope is “to travel and get a prosthetic limb. To walk again. That is my dream for 2026".
